Battle of the Mages
by Suitachi
Summary: The world Tai and Kylie had belonged to was destroyed, and they found themselves on a strange new world, a better one, and since Tai doesn't remember a single thing, Kylie thinks they could start over - What an idea that is.
1. o0  Prologue

**Hey, Guys, I've finally re-uploaded this, now it's new and improved and actually makes sense now. XD  
Sorry it took so long, anyway.**

**So, as always, I don't own any of the Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy/Disney characters/worlds/other.  
I own Tai, Surupi, and Asukki and hanyou-samurai owns Kylie.

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Battle of the Mages

Prologue

_Starlight_

_Star bright_

_First star __destroyed__ that night_

_I wish I may_

_I wish I might_

_Have had __the wish I made__ that night_

I watch the stars disappear that night, one after another, with a soft twinkle and they were gone. I saw her that night, sitting alone in a hollowed tree. Faintly in the dark I saw her lips move, hearing her whispers that made little sense. _I made the stars disappear_.

Her arm was broken; I thought it was - again. But no, it was decided on her own that her arm should remain broken. She didn't feel it, didn't realize until I had pointed it out. And when it was, it was healed once more, just like that. No more break, no more pain, but she still remained as hollowed as the tree. _Perhaps so no one could wish again_.

What did you wish for?

It wasn't her. It was - she did it to her. I don't know what her original wish was, but I know what it turned into. _I wished the stars away._

But I wished the stars for her.


	2. o1 Arrival

Battle of the Mages

Arrival

_Hot and wet...when did it get so hot and wet...Oh..._

A pair of soft green eyes fluttered open; stared straight up into the sky, confused yet relieved to see a bright yellow sun shining in a clear blue sky.

_So the storm's over...That's good..._

"Ugh..." Kylie had to stop floating in the water for some moments. She was tired of being wet, especially when she had clothes sticking to her skin with no room to breathe. It was hot, which she found quite pleasant, but not when the sun rays treated the drops of water like magnifying glass and burned her skin...No, it was just the water.

_Somehow I don't remember being near any water._

From her back, she floated to an upright position and found herself treading water. Easy, but she never quite remembered the last time she was in any water unless it was taking a shower. All around her there was water. Left, right, forward - oh wait. It wasn't all completely water. Not so far away she found a beach, a quiet beach, but a welcoming beach that said, _Come, get out of the water. Relax._ But Kylie turned her head in another direction, because right next to her was a little girl with long, light brown hair that floated just _above_ the water.

"There you are," she whispered, swimming towards the sleeping angel. She smiled, for seeing a floating girl wasn't strange to her; she knew the small girl. The water was her element; therefore it took care and protected the girl when it was needed. "Come on, girl, let's get you safely to land," So Kylie reached out, and upon touching the young child, she dropped into the water, now supported by capable hands. One tug and - "Ow!" - her arm hurt! She bit her lip, just now realizing the long, deep gash that stretched from her shoulder to her elbow. She narrowed her eyes, not having suspected she was hurt that bad, but it shouldn't deter her from anything.

Once the touch of sand grazed the bare arms of the sleeveless shirted girl, she stirred finally in her unconscious nap, opening her clear blue eyes for the first time. Kylie was on her knees the second she heard the moan of the awakening.

"Hey, Tai, how are you feeling?" Kylie greeted cheerfully. She lightly touched the forehead of the girl, checking for any minor fevers she might have, only to feel 102 burning degrees, and the sun irritated her; she flipped over on her knees and hid her head in her arms.

"It's hot. I smell blood."

Kylie blinked. "I'll have to fix that...Are you hurt?"

"Would I be?"

". . ."

"How did you get hurt?" By then, Tai had crawled backwards, back into the water where it was cool and comforting. Kylie wanted smiled at her, because Tai had to be the most adorable girl she ever met, because she didn't like the heat, it wasn't her thing. But she couldn't stop the worry from growing in her chest. If the fever got worse, wouldn't being submerged in water be a bad thing?

"Get out."

"But it's hot!"

"You have a fever, get out."

So a pouting child crawled out of the water, onto the hot white sand of the summer beach, curled herself in the sand, and closed her eyes. Kylie didn't mean to be so demanding of her, but she didn't know quite what else to do. Keeping Tai cool should be top priority, and stripping her sleeve off and dipping it in cold water seemed fine to her. So she did just that, stripped a sleeve from her red, bell-sleeved shirt, and dipped it in the cold water of the ocean before placing it folded on Tai's forehead.

"Stay here and don't go into the water," she told her. "I'm going to go look around." Tai nodded in agreement, and stayed right where she was.

Two sea-blue eyes popped open, searching left and right as the young mouth grinned. He was crouched low in brush and leaves, he was looking for someone, and he knew he was close...very close.

"Got'chu, Sora!" cried a girl from behind. She tagged his back and jumped over him, disappearing in the dense foliage of brush and trees.

"Come on, Riku!" Sora cried, running after the red head that had just flown by.

"Where are you, Sora?" a voice called back from somewhere in the forest. Sora was forced to stop and look around for his other friend, the tall one that should have been following him the whole time.

"I'm over here."

"Thank you! Sora, that's very informative," grumbled a serious silver-haired boy. He stood from his place, looking around before jumping over a bush. He still couldn't find this Sora, but he had a good idea where the girl went.

"Hi, Riku!" chimed a voice from right behind. It was a second before the older boy jumped, spinning around and having half a mind to paint a tree with Sora.

"Sora!"

"What?"

"Don't do that!"

"Aw, you were scared?" Sora teased. Riku bit his lip, only because he was, but he didn't want to admit it. But who wouldn't be scared? Some strange child just appeared right behind him! "Where's Kairi, anyway?"

"Dunno..."

"Boo!"

It was one second more before both boys shrieked in fear and clung to each other, leaving a red head girl laughing like a maniac.

"Slow reaction time you guys!" she teased.

"Our reaction times are just fine!" Riku and Sora said simultaneously, both blushing and ready to refuse that they were scared...despite screaming at the top of their lungs...They were just making Kairi feel important!

"So, Riku," started Kairi, brushing leaves of green from her purplish clothes, "Did you find anything yet? I heard you yell."

"Nah. This kid was just being an idiot," he answered and punched Sora, who whined and grabbed his painful shoulder.

"He was scared!" he told in such a whiney voice, Kairi giggled, and Riku glared.

"I was not!"

"Were, too!"

"Awright, stop it, you two," Kairi demanded, taking charge just as always. "We're here for a reason. Now stop scaring each other and put that reason to use!"

"Yes ma'am!" both agreed with salutes. Kairi giggled once more, and waved, leaving them as she went to go explore more of this lovely green forest.

Kylie felt sick to her stomach when she went into the forest, like something was pulling at her insides. It wasn't such a bad feeling, she just felt a little strange as she followed this feeling in her stomach. It was almost just how she felt when she first met Tai...but it was different this time with the different levels of energy. She felt three of them, two of which she could pinpoint, but the other kept coming and going. It wasn't long before she saw two boys searching casually for something. She caught them as the brown haired boy picked up a stick and showed it to the silver haired boy, but the silver haired boy shook his head and told the brown haired boy to put the stick down.

_Oh, it was those two._

"We need something like this," said the taller boy, picking up a log.

"But you can't roast marshmallows with that," said the other.

"Well you need a clean stick unless you like dirt in your mouth."

"I can wash it off in the ocean!"

"And then you get dirt _and_ salt in your mouth. You must like salty, dirty marshmallows."

"Do not!"

"Are you two arguing again?" wondered a voice from the brush. Kylie realized that this was the energy that kept appearing and disappearing so easily. She thought it'd be an adult figure, or at least someone older, but this kid was pretty good. She felt power from the red head, and decided this was the moment to make herself known.

"What was that?" Kairi wondered, turning her head. Sora and Riku both felt it to, a strong energy to the west. From the brush entered a black haired beauty with bright green eyes, wearing a ruined red shirt, and a long gash that reached from her shoulder to her elbow. Sora and Riku both stood in front of Kairi, but she pushed both of them out of the way so she can see the girl. "Oh, she's hurt!"

She couldn't have been too much older. The black haired beauty seemed mature, but still had the features of a kid, and she wasn't too much taller than Riku was. Her energy was soft, but she couldn't hide the sharp and dangerous aspects of that energy, as hard as she tried. It was Kairi that accepted her to be safe first, before Sora, but Riku hung back.

"Who are you?" asked Sora curiously, looking up at the black haired girl.

"It's important to introduce yourself first," she said, staring at the boy. Sora blushed, scratching the back of his head. Riku raised his eyebrows. She was smart.

"I'm Sora!" Sora introduced. "That's Kairi, and Riku over there," he decided to introduce, too. Kylie nodded, hissing when suddenly the gash in her arm hurt again.

"Ooh, sorry!" Kairi apologized. She was tugging a cloth around the girl's arm and had accidentally pulled too tight. "Ohh...There!" she finished, looking at her successful bandage job. Kylie looked at it, picked at the tie, then pulled away the blood stained bandage. Kairi gasped as, lo and behold, there was no gash! And she couldn't do anything more than blush and hide her face.

_I knew it!_

"Kairi, I don't understand the point of the bandage if it's just gonna go away," Riku said calmly, flicking his hair back. Sora nodded in agreement, grinning widely from ear to ear, clearly proud of Kairi's "talent".

"Please!" the beauty suddenly burst. "My name is Kylie, I just washed up on this beach, and I know you're the Earth Mage, please, please, help my friend, Tai!" It was all so sudden, so strong, and so heart felt, all three kids were stunned at the sudden request made by this angel. "She's by the ocean."

Tai struggled to get to her hands and knees, not faring so well in the heat. Beads of sweat had already formed at her hair line, dripping from her forehead, and disappearing into the red cloth of whatever was left of Kylie's sleeve.

"So hot..." she whined bowing her head to the ground again. She pushed backwards, hearing the comforting rocking of the ocean behind her. It spoke to her, really spoke to her, telling her to come and join the waves where it was nice and cool.

"Kylie told me to stay where I'm at."

_But it's so hot._

Tai was whining still, burying her head in her lap and her long brown hair in the sand. The heat was terribly uncomfortable, and having a mass amount of hair did not help. She felt the water inching toward her feet, her bare feet, licking at her toes. It tickled, but it made her want to be closer to the water; _in_ the water.

"Kylie!" she whimpered, hoping Kylie could here, wherever she was on this bloody island.

"I'm here, Tai!" came Kylie's voice, "I brought someone," she added, before anything happened. Kairi set herself down in front of Tai, taking her head in her hands. Tai gasped and pushed backwards, falling on her butt when she tried to stand. Sora looked at Kylie, Kylie shook her head, and Kairi just sat confused.

"Your name is Tai, right?" Kairi asked, moving a little closer.

"That's what Kylie calls me."

"Tai, show me how old you are."

Instinctually, Tai held up nine fingers, but after a moment of looking at them, she put down four of them, and showed only five, but still she was confused.

"I use two hands..." she told herself, lifted two more on her right hand, "...but that's too many..."

"She's seven?" Kairi asked, looking up at Kylie. Kylie shook her head again.

"She's nine. Tai, how many fingers am I holding up," she asked, now kneeling in Kairi's place.

"Three. I smell blood."

There was a strange silence between them all, Kairi looking at Sora, Sora looking at Riku, Riku looking at Tai. It was strange to them that a nine-year-old would be so attuned to the smell of blood, especially the little blood on the cloth Kairi had decided not to leave in the forest. Maybe it was just the fever.

"...I'm holding two, but close enough."

"Kairi, help her already," Riku nudged, pushing Kairi closer to the youngest of the three around them. Kairi nodded, and kneeled in front of Tai, but the little girl still tried to move away.

"Kylie, blood..." she whimpered. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, but Kylie merely looked at her. There was no danger, so Tai was fine.

"Kairi, give me the cloth," Riku said, holding his hand out. Kairi did just that, and instead of moving straight for Tai again, she took a moment to bathe her hands in the ocean.

"Tai, please don't move, it'll be okay. I'll just..." She reached out and touched once more Tai's forehead, hoping she wouldn't move again. This time Tai stayed calm when she felt the cool of the salty ocean on her forward and maybe possibly gentle energy from the red head girl. When Kairi pulled away, Kylie touched Tai's head, feeling a perfect 98°F of normal human temperature. "Now show me how old you are," Kairi said again. This time, Tai held up a perfect nine fingers.

"All better!" she chimed.

All this was cool and all, but Riku wasn't convinced they weren't really dangerous. One girl barely noticed a long gash in her arm, the other could smell blood as easily as if it was right under her nose. And even as he felt both their energies were quelled, there was no telling when blood would boil and the island set fire.

"Okay, now that we're all better, who are you two and what are you doing here?" he asked, then suddenly blushed hotly when Kylie's vision was on him.

"Riku!" both Sora and Kairi scolded. Kylie looked at them, and the blush toned down.

"I just wanna know."

"I understand your hostility, but there's no reason to be scared," Kylie answered.

"I'm not scared!"

"You are."

"Am -"

"Riku!" Sora and Kairi yelled again, and he quieted. Kylie looked at Tai, Tai brushed her arm across her forehead. She was still hot, and looked longingly toward the water. Kylie wondered if Tai remembered anything. She recognized the reaction from when Kairi touched her, but she was unsure, because the reaction towards blood was different.

"Tai, you answer them," she said, "You know, right?" Tai looked at her funny, unsure now of what to say. There was a long pause between them, mostly of confusion, and the one with the most confusion was the youngest, Tai.

"I don't remember..." she told them. Kylie blinked more than just once. That proved she didn't remember anything.

_Good. That means we can start over._

"You don't remember either, huh?" Kylie lied. Tai nodded. Sora, Riku, Kairi, all exchanged glances. "May we...buy a house here?" Kylie asked them. All of them looked at her. "Since we don't know where to go, I'd like to live here, would that be alright?"

"I don't know," Kairi said. "I mean, I don't know how you can, but you can come with us. I live with the Mayor, so he might be able to do something about it."

"How old are you guys, anyway?"

"Me and Kairi are eleven," Sora answered. "Riku's twelve."

"Oh. So about that house..."

"Oh! Come! Follow me!" Kairi piped, leading the way across the sand. The dock was where she was headed, where three boats had stayed. "We have to go to the main island, that's where our houses are. The Mayor looks over everything from the top of a hill, and…" Kylie followed Kairi happily; already she liked the little red head. She was cute, and smart. Sora followed after, tagging along by Kairi's side. Tai watched, not looking forward to walking. It was hot; she hated it when it was hot.

"Hey -" Riku started, but he was quickly cut off by the little girl he was speaking to.

"Your energy is tense, too, I can feel it," she said. Riku raised an eyebrow. That wasn't the first time he was told he was a tense energy. Kairi and Sora told him that all the time and now an outsider was telling him. It must have been true.

"Then what's my energy?"

"Scary..." she answered. Riku puckered his lips. That was a first.

"Are you afraid of the dark?"

"Not that I know of."

"Then I can't be that scary, come on," He held his hand out to her. Tai looked at it, confused for a moment, but then reached out. His came closer with insistence, but still she hesitated. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing is," she said, taking the hand. He pulled her to her feet, practically dragging her towards the boats. She stumbled along after him, hanging on barely to his strong hand as he led her to his boat. Together they rowed after the others toward the mainland.

_Though it wasn't necessarily my wish to start over, I'm glad we were able. And maybe this time, I can give her the stars. Tai, just wait a little longer, and I will promise the stars to you._


	3. o2 Three Years Later

Battle of the Mages

Three Years Later

_Kairi's a Mage. We found that out the second day after we met. When we took her to see the Secret Place, Sora tripped on a rock. Another rock lying around cut his forearm straight across. Needless to say, Sora cried, but as soon as Kairi touched his arm, the cut disappeared, and he was fine._

"Tai, come on! Hurry up!"

"Don't rush me!"

"Hurry up and climb the tree!"

_Tai and Kylie are Mages as well. They told us, but we had already figured by the energy that bound us as Mages. Three years ago, they weren't allowed to buy a house, mostly because they were too young to live by themselves, so they were forced to live at the orphanage. Lots of children searching adults had their eyes on Tai, but on the other hand, nobody would take Kylie because she was a teenager. Tai refused every one of them, as her successful attempts to stay with her mother like friend._

"What did I say about rushing me!"

"Just get up the tree, you can complain later."

_Tai...The youngest of us all. When we first met, she was even paler than I was. But living here for three years, her skin had darkened to a nice tan color. She didn't like the heat at first; complained every time we begged her to come outside and play. Now the sun to her is just about as part of her as the ocean is._

"Okay, finally."

"What do we do now?"

"What else? Throw coconuts at random people who pass by! Duh."

_Kylie had gotten more beautiful in these last three years. She just graduated out of High School, and was now her own woman. She now owns her own house, and Tai lives with her comfortably. _

"_That's_ why you rushed me? How many times do I have to tell you not to rush me!"

"I'll rush you if I wanna rush you! Now here come Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. We'll throw coconuts at them and hope they don't die."

"Hey! Don't take my kills. Hit the annoying little sunspot down there, I don't like her."

_Little battle monkeys, those two are. Every chance they got, they fought others or each other. Being Mages, they had nearly limitless strengths, but they always went easy on those who weren't lucky enough to be Mages like them._

"Heck yes, your majesty!"

"I don't appreciate that."

"Too bad, so sad. Anyways, when Sora, Riku, and Kairi come by, I'm throwing coconuts at them whether you like it or not."

"...Hit Riku or Kairi and you die."

"Oh, fine, I'll just hit Sora, then."

Coconuts let fly, many at a time. Kylie threw three, one after another, aiming all at the brown haired girl in the yellow sundress. Tai launched only one, high in the sky, not exactly aiming for anyone. Kylie grinned, took this as a challenge, pointing her fingers like a gun at the high flying coconut Tai had thrown, and shot a bullet of plasmic energy straight at the shell. It hit, breaking it totally and completely in half, just as three coconuts fell atop Selphie's head, one after the other. _Clok, clok, clok_. Kylie slid down the tree, Tai following close behind her. Right under the two shells that fell from the sky, Kylie threw both her hands, up, pointer fingers both at the sky, and felt the two shells touch and spin on the tips like basketballs, while she spun, catching every last drop of coconut milk in the two half shells.

"Here you go, Tai," she said, handing one shell to the brown little girl. Tai took it gratefully and quietly, and held it to her lips to take a sip.

"Showing off again, you guys?" a blonde Tidus asked haughtily, though he laughed proudly. Wakka grinned, too, quite impressed with the black haired beauty's show of talent.

"Perhaps," Kylie said with a flip of her hair and a raise of her eyebrows. She took a sip of her own coconut milk and walked left, then stopped. "Oh, Selphie's dead," Tai was forced to spit out her coconut milk on the ground, staring wide eyed at the unconscious yellow thing now lying on the ground. Three coconuts did this; three coconuts that Kylie threw had done this. And Tai just giggled.

"What the crap!"

Both Tidus and Wakka threw themselves down by Selphie, checking a pulse and checking for breath...She was alive, of course, possible brain damage, but alive.

"Troubles in paradise again?" wondered Kairi's voice from halfway across the beach. She stood with her hands on her hips, next to Sora, who stood next to Riku. Kylie only managed to see a flash of long brown hair before Tai was suddenly standing in front of Riku, with her coconut bowl of coconut milk held out as an offering to him.

"What's this?" Riku asked Tai.  
"Just a little trouble," Kylie answered Kairi

"It's for you," Tai told Riku.  
"What happened?" Kairi questioned Kylie.

"Why?" - Riku  
"Selphie got hit with three coconuts in a row...again." - Kylie

"I don't like coconut milk" - Tai  
"Purposely, or on 'accident' like last time?" - Kairi

"I thought you did." - Riku  
"Tai, that's a lie." - Kylie

Everything was silent, and no one knew quite why. All eyes were turned to Tai, all except for one pair that stared up for a sky for just a moment, before returning their bright green gaze to the little girl in front of the silver haired boy.

_They say when everybody suddenly falls silent, an angel is flying overhead._

Tai melted into the sand, a form of water that easily disappeared into the sand to hide from the stare of people. Kylie scratched her head as the last bits of puddle went away and the sand returned to its normal, dry white color. She did that often, when she wanted to be somewhere else and she wanted a quick way out. She was a Water Mage after all.

"Where do you think she's at?" Kairi asked aloud. By now she was kneeling beside Selphie, her hand on the girl's head, and focusing energy into her brain to heal any of the damage sustained from the coconuts.

"No clue, she hid her energy," Kylie answered with a shrug.

"She looked pretty mad," Riku allowed.

"Yeah, she was completely red!" Sora practically shouted. Kylie laughed.

"Red!"

"Yeah!"

"She must've been hot!"

"Hey, look out!" Riku warned, stretching one hand forward without any ability to move to save the black haired beauty's life. Kylie turned her head, seeing the other half of the coconut she didn't have flying straight at her. With a smirk, she spun, catching it like a frisbie, and twirled it on her finger, again like a basketball, and there was milk still in it.

"Can't waste the milk."

Tai's foot flew at Kylie next and Kylie threw the coconut half into the air. Sora, Taking Kylie's words seriously, stood under the bowl, rocking back and forth to try to catch the thing. Kylie caught Tai's foot, then the other that flung at her while she let the first one go, and a series of kicks flew at her in the same way until Kylie threw the girl down in the sand. Tai fell flat on her back with the wind knocked out of her. Kylie took a step back, waiting for the girl to get up before continuing. Sora caught the coconut shell in his hands, but he caught the milk with his face.

Tai giggled while she stood up, and stood in her own attack stance, her arms bent in front of her, her back arched, and her knees bent. Kylie stood straight up, anticipating Tai's moves before they happened. Tai wasn't mad; she just needed to cool off.

"So Tai," Kylie started, dodging a full shoulder ram from Tai. "Do you like him?" she asked. Tai snorted, throwing a kick at the young adult woman. Kylie caught her leg, spinning and throwing her on the ground again. When Tai came back, she held a staff in her hand, pushing it with her right hand for Kylie's side, but was stopped by a short sword quite easily.

"No one said that," she answered, spinning the long black staff in her hands. Red and orange flames spun in Kylie's right hand, creating another short sword she could use.

"But I bet you do!" Kylie chimed. "Tell me, please?" Tai ignored her and kept spinning her staff round in circles while Kylie threw both swords at her before flicking a burst of flame. Tai fell on her butt, shoving her hand forward. A snake of water jetted toward Kylie, wrapping around her and lifting her in to the air, while Kylie forced her fire magic on the girl still. Tai coughed, rolling out of the way of the fire, but she let her own magic break And Kylie fell downwards, her short swords in her hands again and pointed at Tai.

_When they fought each other, they usually went all out._

Covered in fire and spinning rapidly down, Kylie drilled a hole in the air that only led to Tai, who tried to back away from the fiery dive. But, since she didn't move fast enough, a dome appeared around her, her own dome, made of water that would easily stop the fire if she was stronger, but she wasn't. The dome broke, and the fire succeeded, but didn't hit the target.

_Water was supposed to have an advantage over fire, but fire always won._

Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were far enough away to watch and not be harmed. They usually took joy in watching the two girls fight, the flashy mix of fire and water didn't scare them anymore after three years of the same thing.

Tai was gone again when everything cleared. The sand was melted, soon to turn to glass, but everybody just stood in one place, wondering where the little Water Mage went off to.

"Aww, and I got nothing from her," Kylie complained. She scratched the back of her head and turned away, stopping to face Sora, Riku, and Kairi, who were all still there. "So guys, how are you doing on the raft?" she asked in the most suspicious manner she could. The three looked at each other with confused expressions.

"Nobody was supposed to know about the raft!" Sora blurted before two hands, Riku's and Kairi's, slapped over his mouth.

"How do you know we're building a raft?" Riku demanded, hand still on Sora's mouth. Kylie smiled, shifting her weight on her feet, and crunching some of the glass beneath her shoes.

"I, uh...kinda sorta followed you guys and...I've kinda sorta been helping build it at night...And in exchange for my service, I wanna go with you!" she decided, holding herself tall and strong. Sora's eyes fluttered, as Kairi and Riku looked at each other.

"That's all?" she whispered to him.

"Apparently," he whispered to her.

"Do we have enough room?" she whispered back.

"If it's big enough..."

"Is there a problem?" Kylie wondered. Riku and Kairi shook there heads. "And...we'd have to take Tai, too, I'm not leaving her here alone."

"There's not enough room!" Sora suddenly gasped. Kylie, fell back a little, eyes wide, and surprised by the sudden impulsive boy.

"Then we'll make it bigger."

"Oh."

Finally everything was settled.


	4. o3 Wish for Stars

Battle of the Mages

Wish for Stars

_One by one the stars disappeared, dropping from the sky with shapeless splashes of light, and suddenly nothing. Seconds later, a swirl of orange and electric blue danced together in the sky, churning but never mixed. The orange darkened to red, the electric blue became a purple that lined the bright red of the mysterious hole in the sky._

A child hadn't yet gone home, even after the falling sun had set behind the blanket of golden blue water. She stayed to dance the farewell of the sun. She stayed to dance the meeting of the stars. She danced to make the silver of the broken water reach the sky it never could alone. She could make it possible.

_A black liquid formed in puddles on the ground, swirled with the same purple and electric blue. No one would dare touch this substance, for fear it might be poison, or it might take a deathly toll. No one would dare be outside that night because all of them were asleep in bed. They wouldn't notice...were they safe?_

When the stars came out, she stopped her dance and allowed the silver broken water return to the salty ocean. She stood, feet inches apart, and stared into the sky at the first, brightest star that had appeared that night.

_One was out that night, watching the sky. She made a wish, a simple wish, not for herself, but for a friend. _

"Starlight, star bright...First star I see tonight."

_"You wished the stars away."_

"I wish I may, I wish I might...Have this wish I make tonight."

_A friend didn't mean to wish the stars away. She made a wish, too, not selflessly for another person like the one before, but for herself that was completely understandable. After her wish, the stars blinked out one by one. "You wished the stars away."_

"I wish to always be with my best friend!"

_"I wished the stars away," the friend told her, only to be stared at disbelievingly. She wished the stars for her friend, and now they were all gone. The only spots of yellow now were the large, soul boring eyes of those they didn't know about._

One by one the stars disappeared, dropping from the sky with shapeless splashes of light, and suddenly nothing. Tai's ice blue eyes fluttered before she found her feet running off to the mainland where she lived together with Kylie; an even _shap, shap, shap, shap_ on the water's surface.

_The creatures had come from the dark puddles. They arose, sometimes two or three from one puddle. Only two were out that night. The others wouldn't dare be outside, all of them sleeping soundly safe in their beds. The creatures only had two targets that stood together on the starless night._

"Tai, where've you been?" Kylie demanded after she heard the door slam shut. She walked into the living room, where Tai stood, heaving breath upon breath for air. She looked up at her dark haired friend, her pupils so small, her eyes so wide open.

_An orange flame billowed around them, catching the dark creatures off guard, and even destroying some. There were more flames, and even a fire trick or two. One blade glowed orange in the inky black of the night, tracing fiery patterns whenever it cut through one or several of the creatures at one time._

"I've wished the stars away," the child gasped. She dropped to her knees, knee length hair falling into her lap and between her fingers. Kylie's eyes widened just as much as Tai's did, and in a flash of orangey red light, she was gone and outside the door within seconds.

_She was protecting the friend behind her, the one that curled helplessly within the hollow of a tree. A few creatures made it past her, but she wouldn't let them touch her friend, ever. A trail of fire sliced them diagonally and they disappeared in misty darkness. Soon, a scream penetrated the quiet night._

A swirl of orange and electric blue danced together, churning, but never mixed. The orange darkened to red, the electric blue became a purple that lined the bright red of the mysterious hole in the sky. Kylie shook her wide eyed head in disbelief. She recognized it, recognized the exact same colors and the exact same pattern of the hole in the sky. It stood out just as much as it had three years before, and gave the same promise as the last.

_She grabbed her arm, feeling the trickle of blood drip down her forearm. How long was it? She traced her finger from her shoulder to her elbow where it stopped. Green eyes flashed red and flames licked hot. The creatures were going to be short lived._

"Tai! Go to the beach, I'll meet you there!" Kylie shouted from outside. Inside, the girl nodded lazily, her skin shimmered a light watery blue. She sank into a puddle of blue, disappeared into the ground, and the rest of the water followed after, leaving the floor completely dry in front of the door.

_The ground trembled violently, pieces of their home being picked up into the air in large chunks of land. The girl held tight to the hollowed tree, her friend safe inside as ground around them was lifted away into the sky. Soon she was lifted into the sky as well, holding tightly to her friend's hand. Her friend, concentrating as hard as she could, created a bubble of water around them, in hopes it would keep them safe. Both were lifted away from the tree in that bubble, holding tight to each other and never letting go._

Kylie ran through the town, looking in windows, through open doors for three of their friends that they kept safely close: the Earth Mage Kairi and her two best friends Sora and Riku. They weren't anywhere in the town, not in their rooms, not in each others' or others' houses, they just weren't there. Kylie stopped running and huffed, glaring at the dark and wondering where they were.

There was a loud crash as the land gave way in a big chunk. Kylie was forced to her knees as she watched the chunk get sucked into the sky, and into the big red hole that doomed their little island. Kylie's eyes watered as she watched, her hand holding tightly to pictures and letters of a past lost by that same stupid hole!

"No..." she hissed, "Not again...This can't be happening again!" There was another crash, and the ground gave way under her. She looked around. Where there were pools of dark liquid, she watched them shrink until there was none left. Kylie glared at the ground as it gave way once more. "Okay, Kylie...get up!" she yelled at herself. She forced herself on her feet, and ran away from the edge of the land. It started to rise, almost taking her with it, but in a burst of flame, she was on safe ground again, for now.

All around her, she saw the world flash white, and suddenly she was upside down in the air. Her green eyes fluttered, her mind concentrating on getting away, to get safely down to safe land, but her magic stopped working as soon as the hole had locked on to her. Though she knew she'd be fine on the other side, just like last time, she couldn't help feeling guilty that this time she would be leaving Tai by herself.

"Tai, I'm sorry!" she screamed into the air. "Tai, don't die! I'll see you soon! I promise!" The world around her flashed again, and she was gone.

Tai stood on the beach, curling her bare toes into the still warm white sand. Around her, dark puddles of liquid surrounded her. She didn't dare go near them. No, several pairs of big, yellow, foreboding eyes stared up from these dark puddles, moving slowly out from beneath the ground and onto land.

_Did something like this happen before?_

Tai pushed one bare foot back into the sand, twirling a magic staff in one hand. She could only face one section of the yellow eyed creatures at a time, so she picked the ones in front of her.

_Should I remember this?_

She swung the tip of her staff down, hitting one, then swinging it right to hit the other. She spun, stabbing one behind her with the one end, and jamming the other end into the one in front of her. She spun, holding her staff out from the bottom to hit all of them at once, but they jumped high into the sky, sprawling in the air like flying squirrels. Tai bit her lip, tracing a half circle in the sand with her toe. A stream of water came from the ground, started to swirl around her, but before she knew it, she had ten or fifteen of those great yellow eyed creatures on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

"Tai, I got you!" Sora's voice shouted. Tai looked up at silver and gold confetti light that knocked away the creatures that had pile drove her into the ground. She stood, safe with Sora attacking dark creatures with...a gigantic key shaped blade? Tai blinked, eyes wide at the blasphemy of it all: creatures from the dark being destroyed by a...magic key?

_Yeah, I don't remember this._

"You okay," Sora asked her. She nodded quickly, still staring wide eyed at the key. She wanted to know what it was, but she didn't think Sora knew what the heck it was, either. "Awright, come on, we gotta go find Kairi!" Without an answer, he took her hand and pulled her across the beach, towards the Secret Place where he hoped to find Kairi.

_Sora..._

Sora stopped and turned around, facing the shore where the ocean should be. But, the ocean was gone! Tai felt a sense of loss, seeing no water that had so safely kept them. And there, in front of the shore where the ocean should be, was Kairi, her short red hair waving in the windless air.

"Kairi!" he called to her, waving his hand. She didn't move. Sora's mouth deeply frowned. If she wouldn't go to him, he'd go to her. So he ran, letting go of Tai's hand, and stumbled to a stop in front of Kairi. "Kairi. Kairi, listen -" he reached out to touch her, though, as soon as she did, she disappeared, in a dance of gold and green bubbles. They swirled in the air, and then flew straight at Sora, hitting him full in the chest, but never using any force at all. His brows furrowed, and he turned to look at Tai.

He opened his mouth to speak, but there was a loud crash. Tai stumbled, tripping over her foot, and fell face flat into the sand. Sora was quickly beside her, pulling her up by her arm. Another crash and he was holding her protectively. The ground all around them shot up into the starless hell hole in the sky.

_In the end, I was glad I held on to her._

Sora was floating into the sky next, upside down because he was still holding to the little brown girl, who didn't seem to be moving at all. He looked up, then looked down, nearly gasped in surprise when he saw how either mortally devastated or afraid she was. Though all seemed bleak, he gave her a comforting smile, assuring her that all would be alright. As he did, he wrapped his arms around her under her arms and locked his fingers together.

_Because if I didn't..._

Tai didn't hold onto him in return. Instead, she formed a bubble around the two of them, with her own magic. Still, she felt safer with him holding on to her, so she wrapped her small arms around his neck. In return, he tightened his hold around her, grabbing his elbows instead of locking his fingers.

_...I knew if I didn't..._

There was a white flash, and both were gone, just like Kylie before them.

_...she'd probably still be there...alone with nothing._


	5. o4 Colorful Mercenary

Battle of the Mages  
Colorful Mercenary

Cloud sighed as he walked along the Olympus Coliseum, leaving the corpse of his opponent behind. He sighed again. He was so bored. None of the competitors were hard. None of them had even gotten past the preliminaries, because they couldn't beat him. All of those weaklings though they could beat Hercules, and they couldn't even beat him.

All of a sudden, he heard a rumble of thunder. Either a storm was brewing, or a world was being destroyed. He hoped it was the latter. Rain was fine: he just hated fighting in mud. It took forever to get it out of his clothes and weapon. Cloud continued to walk across the Coliseum.

Cloud heard a popping noise. He knew that a world had just been destroyed. He didn't really care. He didn't really care about anything anymore. Suddenly, he heard a whistle of air, and looked up. A girl was falling towards the ground.

Cloud was too stunned to do anything. She plummeted towards the ground, and hit with a thump, right in front of Cloud, almost on top of him. A long sword and two short swords fell right after her.

Her eyes opened, and she saw Cloud. She then groaned and fell unconscious. He knelt by her and assessed her wounds. She was bleeding heavily from a gash on her left arm, coincidentally the same one she hurt when she arrived on the Destiny Islands. Her stomach also had a deep cut in it. She had pulled a tendon in her left ankle, and she was covered with assorted small cuts and bruises. In a split second decision, Cloud decided to help the girl.

He picked her up bridal style. _Okay, now what, smart one?_ Thought Cloud to himself. _I don't know. Take her to your room and treat her wounds stupid. Otherwise she might die. Don't call me stupid, stupid! I'm not stupid! I'm you! Oh yeah..._

Cloud rolled his eyes. He was such an idiot. After a few seconds, he decided to take her to his room. He grabbed her weapons and started to walk across the arena.

"Hey, Cloud!" yelled one of the new contenders. That person had just arrived, yet he knew Cloud's name. **Everybody** knew Cloud's name. The guy ran over and stopped a few feet away from Cloud. "So," said the guy, "Finally found yourself a girl eh? She's quite a looker, isn't she? But, what happened to her? You didn't beat her, did you?" His gaze went from the girl's face to Cloud's. Cloud's expression was icy and livid. "Whoa," The guy took a step back. Cloud walked out of the arena. The guy collapsed covered in sweat. Now he knew why some men froze when fighting Cloud Strife.

Forty seven minutes later, Kylie came to slowly. Her stomach, arm, ankle, and head throbbed. Pretty much her whole body. She felt way worse than she had when she arrived on the Destiny Islands. She slowly opened her eyes, expecting bright light, but that's not what she got. The light was dim, coming from a single lamp. She looked towards the light.

A blonde guy with spiky hair was reading a book. The book: Angels and Demons. Kylie was surprised.

"That's a good book," she said, looking at him and smiling slightly. The spiky haired blonde jumped so slightly that Kylie almost missed it. He finished reading the last few sentences, then he put the book down on the table the lamp was sitting on.

Kylie sat up, putting a hand to her throbbing head. "Where am I?" she asked, gritting her teeth against the pain. "And who are you?"

The spiky haired blonde leaned back in his chair. My name is Cloud Strife," he said. "You're at the Olympus Coliseum, in my room."

"Nice to meet you Cloud." Kylie was wary about giving her name. She could smell fresh blood on him. But, since she was curious about him, she decided to give him her name. "My name is Kylie Tenshi. Cloud looked slightly startled. He knew what her last name meant. It meant angel.

_Angel. She's beautiful. It fits. I mentally shook my head. What was I thinking? I'd never thought a girl was pretty before. Wow. I think I'm going insane._

Kylie started getting out of Cloud's round bed. Cloud stared.

"Well," said Kylie. "It's been real, but I gotta go. I seem to be missing a few personal effects, and I need to find my friends."

Cloud reach down and his hand came up holding her weapons. "Are these what you lost?" he asked. Kylie nodded, and swung her shoeless feet out from under the covers. She took her weapons from him. They disappeared in a red light, just like the Keyblade.

"Yes. Thank you. But I still need to find my friends."

She got out of his bed and walked forward. Before she'd taken two steps, she collapsed. Cloud just sat, watching her.

Kylie rubbed her ankle. She could feel that she'd pulled her tendon. She rolled her eyes, frustrated. Why did things like this always have to happen to her?

She got to her feet and tried to walk again. She took one step forward and collapsed onto the ground. The last thing she saw was Cloud roll his eyes, stand up, and walk over to her before she blacked out.

Kylie came to slowly. She opened her eyes slightly. Cloud was sleeping in his chair. His hair was wet, and he was wearing black jeans and a black long sleeved silk shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and the first two buttons unbuttoned. Kylie could see how buff Cloud was. She blushed at that thought. Closing her eyes, she fell back asleep.

When Kylie woke up again, Cloud was starting to stir. She sat up. _Fainting induces dreamless sleep_, thought Kylie. _Dreamless sleep means no nightmares. No nightmares mean no waking up covered with sweat, smothering a scream so no one will hear me._

_I woke up, but I didn't open my eyes. I had been having such a good sleep too. No nightmares. Why'd I have to wake up?_

Cloud opened his eyes to see the girl already awake and sitting up in his bed. He blinked. That was how he showed mild surprised. The girl, Kylie, noticed he was awake.

"We seem to be back right where we started," she said, her face showing slight amusement.

Cloud didn't say anything.

"You don't talk much, do you?" asked Kylie, raising an eyebrow slightly. Cloud still didn't say anything.

"Okay then." She looked away, and examined his room with one sweep of her eyes.

His room was painted dark blue, and his covers and sheets on his round bed were black. He no longer smelled of blood, but the faint, dark scent of death still lingered around him.

"What do you do?" asked Kylie, her eyes snapping back to him.

"Hm?" he hadn't heard her.

"What do you do? As an occupation?"

"I'm a mercenary."

"Mercenary?"

"I fight for money."

"I know what a mercenary is. Money? You don't fight for anything else? No friends, no family. Not even yourself? Just...money? That's selfish and petty."

Cloud jerked forward in his chair, his expression cold and livid once again.

"Anata ga shiru nani mo nai koto," _You know nothing_, said Cloud in Japanese, not thinking that she would understand it. He was ready to say the same thing in English, when she surprised him.

"Watashi wa shiru yori oi yori wa anata ga amou," _I know more than you think_, said Kylie, her expression as livid as well. Cloud's eyes widened in surprise.

"Do not underestimate your opponent just because they are female," said Kylie, glaring at Cloud.

Cloud leaned back in his chair, and inclined his head before looking back up at her.

"You're right. That is what I was thinking. I'm sorry. However," Cloud looked into her eyes. "It is uncanny for you to know what I was thinking."

Kylie looked down. "I'm an uncanny person. And I'm sorry, too. With all these injuries, I'm in a bad mood, but..." Kylie had just noticed something. "Did you bandage my wounds?" Cloud nodded.

Kylie blushed deeply. Cloud suddenly realized why she was blushing. He blushed too.

"I didn't take off your shirt or anything," he said. "If the wounds had been any higher than your stomach, I would have gotten a female doctor." They both stopped blushing. Kylie threw off the blankets and stretched her legs out from the curled up position they'd been in.

"Are you going to get up again?" asked Cloud, leaning forward to foil any of her attempts to get out of bed.

"Not yet. Will you bring me crutches so that I can get up? Your room is cool and all, but I am bored out of my mind. On second thought, why don't you just get me a potion? Oh, no, wait, that won't work. Do you have an elixir?"

"An elixir? Are you joking? Do you know how hard those are to find?"

"So you don't have one?"

Cloud shook his head. "No."

"Aw, that sucks."

Cloud was so surprised he burst out laughing. He had expected her to start whining or crying. Kylie gave him a strange look.

"I didn't think you could laugh," she said.

Cloud's smile faded from his face, and his eyes once again became guarded once again. "What do you mean?" he asked, mirth gone from his voice. Kylie's face became expressionless.

"Your eyes," she said simply. "And your colors."

"My...my colors?" asked Cloud, confused. Kylie sighed and began to explain.

"I see some people as colors," Kylie began. "Some colors are happy, some are mad, etcetera. Your colors are the colors of the sky right after sunset. When the sun is gone, and all the yellows and oranges had faded. You're the color of the sky when it's blue, purple, and black, yet the sky still has a few streaks of red. Although earlier, when you got mad, your colors changed. Not many peoples' change to that color when they're angry. Most people change to red, or red and orange. You blazed. You were the color of the sunset. With all the reds, yellows, and oranges streaked across the sky, with the sun's light shining in your eyes. You were radiant, yet, when you were angry, I didn't feel fear or sadness, or even retaliating anger. I felt...curious. You intrigue me, Mr. Strife."

Kylie's eyes widened, and she clapped her hands over her mouth, cheeks reddening. "I am so sorry," she said, lowering her hands. "You probably think I'm this weird freak."

Cloud looked... surprised. "That's not weird. That's... amazing. I've never met anybody who sees people in colors." Cloud smiled. It was awkward, but it was his true smile. He was actually...happy, there, with her. 

Cloud was sleeping deeply. Well, he had been sleeping deeply, but he was beginning to be aware of his surroundings. He felt a shadow move across his eyelids.

_An assassin!_ He thought.

His body tensed, ready to spring out of bed and fight hand to hand until he could get to his sword and cut the assassin into tiny pieces. He felt the assassin get onto his bed and lean over him. His eyes flashed open revealing...definitely not an assassin.

_During the past two weeks, while my injuries healed, Cloud and I have become great friends. Although he hasn't shown me that awkward smile again, I know it's there, just waiting to emerge. He's shown me other smiles, happy smiles, but the smile he showed me the day we met let me see into his soul. He had so many colors whirling around. All of them beautiful, yet sad. But slowly, the sadness of the colors has been disappearing. I'm hoping all of the sadness will go away, but I know that that is impossible. He will always feel the pain of what happened to him. It never goes away. The pain, the anguish, the guilt. But, in time, I'm hoping the pain will fade, at least a little bit. Maybe there's somebody out there who can help ease those wounds. Heh, wouldn't it be funny if it was me? Like Cloud would ever think of me __**that**__ way._

_We're going to steal- excuse me, __**borrow**__ a gummi ship and go on a trip. There's a path to this recently discovered world. It's just like the world I used to go to school on, with all the TV's and electronics. They really don't have them anywhere else. But, I'm glad we're going today. I want some new CDs, and I need to introduce Cloud to the world of electronics. I'm going to take him to the mall and the movie theater, maybe more places. I gotta go wake Cloud up now. Dang he can sleep! I mean, it's 7:30!_


	6. o5 I Smell Blood

Battle of the Mages

"I Smell Blood"

She could have been born just then when she opened her eyes. A star studded sky floated overhead, she recognized it, so she couldn't have been born just then. The stars moved, bobbed up and down and turned left or right. Tai squinted, knowing these couldn't be stars. They were shadowed faces, and it was their eyes that moved so constantly as whispers filled the bubble around her.

"Oh, she's awake."

"Do you think she's alright?"

"Look, she's moving. Of course she's alright."

Tai sat up, looking at all the mysteriously unfamiliar people around her. She was sure she'd never met any of these people, not once in her life...If she remembered a time where she knew people. She blinked, a blank stare in her clear blue eyes. The people around her spoke, and all of them said nothing. When she stood, they all took a step backwards from the small girl. Air and space, that's usually what people wanted, or they just wanted to speculate her long, light brown hair.

"Hey, girl - Hey!"

Tai didn't bother speaking to anyone, especially anyone she didn't know. As long as she didn't know anybody here, there was no problem ignoring them. She simply strode away, as gracefully as she would on water, but the gritty cement beneath her bare feet kept her uncomfortable. Why didn't she wear shoes?

_Hello, hello?_

_I smell blood._

"Me, too," Tai found herself saying. She spun around, feeling some strange energy signature behind her, but there was just the dispersing crowd and the strange energy signature was gone.

"Hello, hello? I smell blood."

"Me -"

_Déjà vu?_

Tai blinked, and spun around again. Still nothing, but she knew she clearly heard someone speak behind her. The strange energy signature bounced around, but there was no one there to match the signature. She sucked her breath in, then let it out slowly. She could focus on other things...like the energy she recognized rather than the one she didn't recognize. She knew it was here somewhere.

Her gut led her up a flight of steps, left into a dark alleyway, where the ground seemed to be less kept. Chunky pebbles lined the cracks, and there was much more gritty dirt. Tai stopped to curl and relax her toes, then she stepped forward into the alley of dull yellow crates. The familiar energy was here.

"Sora?" she called, noting the familiar name. She didn't know exactly why it was familiar, or why she recognized the face that went with it. She carefully picked her way around the crates, touching each one gently until finally she stopped in front of what she was looking for. The energy she felt was stronger right there, but weak, possibly due to his unconscious state. She did recognize the face and matched it to the one in her memory, and the name as well. She knew she found this Sora.

"Hey!" she shouted. Still he slept. Tai raised an eyebrow. "Hey!" she shouted again. Still he wouldn't wake. Tai slowly closed and opened her eyes. If he wouldn't wake up with a sharp "hey" then maybe a sharp kick would do just fine. She lifted her foot, and buried the heel right into the soft spot of his tummy, making him awake and gasp for air.

"Tai! What'd you do that for!" he complained as he was doubled over and moaning. She only blinked at him, wondering why it was they knew each other.

"It only felt natural," she answered automatically. He looked up and only glared. Her eyes widened and she shrugged. "What?"

"Kicking is not natural."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Kicking you is."

"Whatever."

Sora stood, swaying slightly on his feet before he completely retained his balance. He let out a short sigh, and looked around. "Where are we?"

"Weren't we here the whole time?"

"Huh? No, what're you..." the boy trailed off, staring at the child figure in front of him. She was so short, maybe because she was only eleven, nearly twelve. She hadn't even made it into Middle School yet, she couldn't possibly be any taller. "Oh...you forgot?"

"Forgot what?"

"Remember an island?"

"Nope."

"You forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"It doesn't matter. Come on, I'll tell you later," Sora brushed passed her, expecting her to follow. He took the lead, but she only stared strangely at his back. A gasp and she spun around, feeling the other strange energy, but it was gone just as soon as she did again.

_Hello, hello?_

"I smell blood."

"What?" Sora turned around the face Tai, who had mentioned before that she could smell blood when they first met. Her eyes fluttered. He heard her.

"I smell...blood?" she repeated, though she crossed her eyes, wondering why exactly she said it.

"That's because you got a big cut on your face," he said, placing his hands on either side of her head. "Yup, that's a big one," Using his glove, he touched the flesh just below the cut on her cheek, and rubbed the blood away. He pressed his lips together when the blood smeared. "Hang on, I got this..."

"Here."

"Oh thank you," Sora took the shredded piece of cloth from whoever handed it to him, and proceeded to wipe away the blood on her cheek. Accidentally he grazed the cut, but she didn't even seem to flinch. "Tai?" he stopped, looking at her.

"What?"

"..." For a moment he didn't answer, thinking better of the question, then he asked, "Where'd you get this cloth?"

"I didn't."

"Then where -" he spun around, feeling some strange energy behind him, but there was nothing there. Nothing at all. "Must've been my - Your cut's gone!" His mouth dropped open. Tai touched her face, where there was still a bit of blood, but there was no cut on her face.

"What are those?" she wondered, pointing right behind Sora. Sora spun around, staring straight into the distance. Tai noticed there were no more people in the square where she had been. Instead, black yellow eyed things that scampered across the cement ground. Sora glared, pushing Tai behind him; but behind him, she didn't stay. Tai was the first one on the playing field, staff in one hand, and surrounded by those dark creatures that meant nothing to her, but they seemed to mean something to Sora.

A swirl of water magic tipped her staff, making a hammer like weapon as she slammed it on each creature. She spun to hit more than just one, and few went flying into the air. She stared upward, waiting for them to come down some before she decided to stab one right through the chest, and use it to beat the other flying creatures in the air, but it disappeared and all she had was the hammer head, which worked equally well. One crept up behind her, one she stabbed in the face with the butt of her staff before she flung it forward at another; she twirled her staff, creating a mass amount of water magic that swept the rest of the creatures into the air...and she stopped. The magic broke and the dark creatures hit the ground, alive, but scrambling away for safety. Tai swayed on her feet, her eyes fluttering lazily. Her hair fell up as she went down. Sora caught her before she hit the ground and quickly touched her forehead; one hundred and three degrees Fahrenheit.

"Tai, are you feeling alright?" he asked, turning around. He bent over, expecting her to climb onto his back. She merely fell forward, making just enough conscious effort to drape her arms over his shoulders.

"What do you think?" she grumbled unhappily in his ear. "It's hot..."

"Yeah, that's what you said the first time you came to the islands."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Let's just get you somewhere safe."

Tai only moaned in response, digging her face into his back. In moments she was breathing calmly, asleep, but she often stirred and rubbed her face against his back. Sora adjusted his arms under her legs, making sure she wouldn't fall off easily, and he was forced to lean forward. He didn't expect her to be so heavy.

"Troubles in paradise?" wondered a voice.

"Kairi!" Sora wondered, turning around. But, sadly, no Kairi. Instead a girl with mint colored eyes.

"No, not Kairi," she breathed. "I don't think I sound anything like Kairi, do you think so?" Sora shook his head. "Oh well, how are you my name is - Oops! I almost slipped, now what's yours?" she asked. She spoke fast, and grinned like a cat. No, she definitely didn't sound like Kairi, and this girl let her sentences run together.

"Sora..."

"Sora, Sora, I knew that, now what's wrong with the little girl, she hot?" the strange girl asked. Sora raised his eyebrows, not really understanding why this girl had any interest in the feverish kid. But, he had to admit, he did have the strange feeling that he felt from her. It grew stronger and stronger, and suddenly he knew.

"You're a Mage!"

"That I am, now it seems she has a fever, want me to fix it?"

"Please?" Sora begged. The girl clicked her tongue, shaking her golden locked hair.

"Nope, nope, nope! I need something in return first, and since you have nothing to give, I have nothing to give, but you'll surely soon have something to give, am I right?"

"Uh...yes?"

The minty eyed, golden locked girl grinned quite mischievously. She danced about Sora, bursting out of sight in a show of light and smoke and appearing somewhere else around him. She looked at him, looked at Tai, looked at the sky, looked in some random direction, and finally she snapped her fingers and she was right in front of Sora again.

"Good, good. I'll tell you later what I want, but for now I'll share some information with you, come here, lean forward," she demanded. Sora leaned forward as she leaned forward, an exchange of secrets just between the two of them. "When a Mage has a fever, it means they've run out of magic. An ether works fine, but elixers work wonders!" The girl shared a giggle between them. "And as long as you have no munny, I'll help only a little!" The girl danced about Sora, leaning in close to Tai enough to see as much of her face that wasn't hiding in Sora's back. "An Earth Mage can help, too, with just a touch..." The girl touched Tai's forehead, where a silver circle of light drew itself in the air, then popped as it disappeared. The girl grinned happily, clapping her hands and skipped backwards.

"Does that make you an Earth Mage, too?" Sora asked, mouth gawking in surprised awe.

"No, no, no! Silly boy. There's only one Earth Mage in existence! You should know this, being a Mage yourself," scolded the thin finger of the colorful girl. Sora blushed, biting his lip and ready to admit he was just testing her. "The Mages are elemental magicians, there can only be one of each element, not two!"

"I knew that!" Sora blurted. The girl raised an eyebrow over her now sharp minty eyes. Sora gulped, stepping back.

"Oh did you now? Well, well, then. Did you know there was a Hotel not too far from here? It's in the Second District."

"No..."

"Do you know where the Second District may be?"

"No..."

"How dumb can you be? Dumb, dumb, dumb, he prob'ly didn't understand a **word** I said to him," complained the girl as she turned about. She lifted her hands to the sky, waving one from side to side. Sora pressed his lips together; he was not dumb!

"We just got here!" he snapped at her. She turned around, raising her eyebrow yet again. "I don't know what happened exactly...Our island was suddenly destroyed...But we're still alive! And I know I don't necessarily know where we are or where I'm supposed to go, but at least give me a chance! I'll figure this out, help or no help! And if I can, I wanna find my friends...Riku, Kairi, Kylie...I'll find them all! And just because I don't know anything yet, that doesn't give you the right to call me dumb!" A smile crossed the girl's lips, then a toothy grin, and finally a giggle.

"Smart boy. Now come, come! I'll show you to the Hotel. It's nice! Y'know, but it only, only has one bed. Because you're a gentleman that makes the little girl a lady; ladies get to sleep on the bed, and...yeah, you're on the floor."

Before they knew it, they were standing in front of a blue moon door of a hotel room. Sora blinked, wondering how exactly they got here so fast, but the girl behind him only giggled.

"Go in! Go in!" she offered, pushing him towards the door. Sora stumbled, then stopped, looking at her.

"Thank you," he admitted, before walking in. She grinned, first leaning towards his ear.

"Little Taichi holds her breath when she fights..." she whispered in the creepiest manner she could.

"Hey how do you know -" he started, but she was gone before he could finish. His eyes fluttered, not expecting that. But here he was; might as well rest up before anything else strange happens.

_She remembers something...right?_


	7. o6 Long Silver Fear

**Sorry, Kye, I kinda changed this one around a little, just a little, but it still says the same thing. =)

* * *

**

Battle of the Mages  
Long Silver Fear

Kylie walked quietly into Cloud's room. The lazy bum was still asleep! Leaving the door open, she walked silently across his room and climbed onto his bed. She crawled across his mattress to him, and leaned over the still form of the sleeping swordsman. She was just inches from his face. She was just about to call his name softly and wake him up, when his eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright.

Cloud smacked his head against hers. Kylie fell off the bed and hit the floor with a thump. Cloud fell back onto his bed, clutching his now bruised head. He heard a groan from the floor. He rolled over, letting his hands fall to his side, and looked down.

Kylie was lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, holding **her** bruised head. She groaned.

"So," said Cloud conversationally, "I guess you're not an assassin?" Kylie sat up and looked at him, her hands holding her up.

"Obviously not! Oww...did you have to sit up so fast?"

"Well, no. But in my defense, I thought you were an assassin."

"You are so paranoid."

"I am not."

"You're in denial. Are you ready to go?" Cloud rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, arms behind his head.

"In an hour or two..."

"No! You. Up. Now. Or else I will take drastic measures."

"Drastic measures? What can you do to me? Anyway, you wouldn't want to hurt me," As Kylie and Cloud had gotten to know each other, Cloud had begun teasing Kylie more and more. She hated and loved it as the same time.

"Wanna bet?"

"I'm so scared. Completely paralyzed with fear," Cloud said sarcastically, keeping his eyes resolutely shut. Kylie climbed onto Cloud's bed, leaning over him.

"Good. A little fear never hurt anyone."

"I dunno...fear of you could kill a normal person."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Wait! Stop trying to sidetrack me! Get up!" Cloud finally opened his eyes with a groan.

"Fine, fine. Just get out so I can get dressed."

"You'd better be ready to go by eight!" Kyra slipped off his bed and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Cloud ran out his room, running his hand through his wet hair. The spikes were still there, of course - they were natural - but Cloud knew that his hair was very messy, and he didn't really want Kylie to see him like that.

Halfway down the hall Cloud realized that he'd forgotten his wallet. He skidded to a stop, and ran down the other way. Inside his room, he grabbed his wallet, and ran back out of his room, slamming the door behind him. He ran full speed back down the hallway.

Several new contenders were standing in the hall, talking. They fell silent as they saw Cloud Strife, stoic warrior, run down the hall, run back to his room, and then run back the other way, disappearing through the door at the end of the hall. The contenders looked at each other, and shook their heads.

"Nah."

"No way."

"Couldn't be."

Cloud sprinted up to Kylie, her arms crossed and her foot tapping, an impatient look on her face.

"You're late," she growled, glaring at him, as he bent over and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. When he'd regained his breath, a few seconds later, he checked his watch. It was 8:01. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"By a minute!"

"That's still late. But no matter. Are you **finally** ready to go?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here now would I?"

"You might, just to mess with me."

Cloud smiled. "Yes, I'm ready to go." They left the coliseum, and grabbed a gummi ship, with Cloud driving.

In the ship, Cloud noticed scars covering her arms, since she was wearing short sleeves.

"What are those from?" he asked, glancing at her. Kylie had been staring out the window, her chin resting on her hand. She stiffened, and answered emotionlessly.

"I used to be a cutter," she said bluntly. Cloud turned back to the path.

"Why?" he asked. She heard in his voice that he had been hurt by her answer, but she didn't know why.

"Why do you care?" she asked coolly, looking at him.

"Because I'm your friend."

Shocked, Kylie turned back to the window. She had never thought Cloud was the type to admit he had friends.

"I started cutting after my sister died," Kylie began. "Well, I had done it a few times before, but after she died, I really started doing it. I stopped after my parents died. It took my parents telling me how warped my soul was, and my best friend agreeing with them, and my parents dying to get me to stop. Can we drop this now?"

Cloud nodded. "Sure." And then Cloud remembered. "Oh, happy birthday."

"It's my birthday?"

"I don't know, is it?"

"Well, if you think it is, then sure, heck why not?" Cloud laughed. He didn't just start laughing, he couldn't stop. Kylie stared at him, a weird expression on her face the entire time. When he finally stopped laughing, he had to swerve violently to avoid another gummi ship.

"So, is it really my birthday?"

"Yeah, it is. I had to Google you to find out though."

"You Googled me?" cried Kylie, outraged.

"I didn't want to ask you incase you wouldn't tell me. Does it bother you that I did that? I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. It's all right."

"Hey Kylie..." Cloud really didn't want to bring it up, but he had to. He was worried.

"What?"

"How is it going? Between you and Sephiroth?"

"Um..." Kylie remembered officially meeting Sephiroth for the first time.

_Cloud was fighting, with Kylie cheering him on in the stands. Cloud dodged a sword stroke but it caught his red cloak. He fell to the ground, half strangled. His opponent raised his sword for the killing stroke. Cloud dodged, but the sword still hit his arm. Cloud kicked the man away and sprang up. Cloud examined the wound. It bled heavily, and was deep, but he was in no danger of losing it, and he could still fight._

_The man was curled up on the ground, gasping and clutching his stomach, at least three ribs crushed. The referee rushed over and declared Cloud the winner._

_Cloud started to walk away, but the man on the ground grabbed the end of his cloak. Cloud stopped and looked at the man disdainfully._

_"Let me go," said Cloud quietly._

_"Filthy pig!" the heavily accented man spat._

_"I am not the one holding the filthy pig, lowlife," said Cloud condescendingly, then he kicked him on the forehead with his heavy boot. The man immediately fell unconscious._

"I've caught him watching me, but that's it," Kylia concluded, trying to shrug it off.

_Cloud walked away, searching the stands for Kylie. She wasn't there. Cloud blinked, momentarily surprised, then he remembered: when he got hurt, she usually met him at the exit of the arena._

_When he walked out of the arena, Kylie wasn't there, holding bandages and ready to ask if he was all right. A feeling of foreboding fell across him, and Cloud started down the hallway quickly and quietly. When he turned the corner, he found her._

_The new fighter, Sephiroth, was grasping her forearms, and had her shoved up against a wall. Kylie was struggling, but in vain._

_Apparently, she realized that she couldn't break the strong grip of the silver-haired man, so she stopped struggling._

_Glaring at Sephiroth, her fists clenched. A look of surprise crossed his face before he put his emotionless mask back on. It seemed it was getting harder and harder for him to keep holding her. Cloud however, wasn't going to waste time wondering why._

_He strode angrily down the hall, cloak flapping behind him. Kylie saw him over Sephiroth's shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise and relief, and she smiled slightly. Sephiroth's head turned and he glance at Cloud. While his attention was occupied, Kylie acted._

_White teeth sunk into pale flesh with a spurt of blood. Sephiroth whipped his head around and growled, bearing __**extremely**__ pointed canines._

_He glared down at Kylie. She met his glare with a defiant one of her own, teeth still embedded in his flesh. She released him at the same time that he released her. When Kylie had straightened up, she and Sephiroth looked at each other._

_Sephiroth's cheeks were flushed slightly, blood dripping from the deep bite wounds in his arm. Kylie was panting, open mouth revealing her teeth and tongue covered in Sephiroth's blood._

_They stared at each other, their gazes portraying vastly different emotions. Sephiroth's eyes showed anger, but underneath the thin veil, they showed a burning longing. For what, Kylie wasn't sure. Strength, her, killing Cloud, it could be anything. But, Kylie knew, deep inside her, where her deepest fears were kept, she knew that what Sephiroth wanted...was her._

_Her eyes conveyed, pure, feral terror, but then her reasonable side took hold. The terror faded, clamped in her iron will, and pushed away to be dealt with later._

_Sephiroth saw the resolution in her eyes. He smiled very slightly and gave an amused "Hmph," before turning on his heel and walking away, blood still dripping down his arm. Cloud glared at his back._

"If he bothers you again, let me know."

_Kylie spit the blood out, and then slid down the wall, shaking. Cloud rushed to her and caught her just before she hit the ground. Kylie leaned against him, shaking worsening._

_"Are you alright?" he asked gently, holding her._

_"I...I'm...I'm f...fi...fine. I'm fine," stuttered Kylie, shaking worse than ever._

_Cloud quickly and silently assessed her, then shook his head. "No, you're not. Not at all." Cloud her up bridal style, wincing as her weight combined with her uncontrollable shaking opened his wound even farther. He ground his teeth and walked quickly to her room._

_Cloud set the still shaking girl down onto her bed, took off her shoes, then pulled the covers up. He tried to walk away, but Kylie grasped his forearm._

_"No!" she gasped, teeth chattering regardless of the sweat on her face. "Please don't...please don't leave me! I'm scared! So, so scared!"_

_Cloud's eyes widened in surprise. Kylie wasn't the type to admit she was scared., so she wouldn't worry anyone. Her telling him made him realize that she wasn't just scared... she was terrified._

_That thought process took only a few seconds. Cloud looked into her emerald eyes, and saw unconditional trust, along with the fear. Cloud nodded slowly._

_"Hang on." He unclenched her hand from his arm, and walked over to her door. After closing and locking it, he took a chair from against the wall, and pulled it up to Kylie's bed, trying not to use his arm. Cloud pulled off his cloak, and then sat down and pulled off his boots. This done, he took Kylie's hand. She gripped his hand like she would never let go. Their eyes met one more time, and then she fell asleep, still holding his hand. Cloud settled back into his chair, falling asleep as well._

"I can take care of myself you know!" Cloud opened his mouth to retort, but Kylie pointed to his left. "Turn here."

_Kylie woke, and saw that Cloud was sleeping by her bed. Her first thought was how cute he looked while sleeping. Kylie sat up, then noticed that Cloud was still holding her hand. She started to smile, and then stopped as pure, unfiltered terror overwhelmed her again, causing her senses to go haywire as adrenaline flooded her system. Thoughts of the silver-haired man filled her head, pounding around and around inside her skull until she was ready to puke or scream. She forced her eyes, which had been closed, open, and they fell on Cloud._

_The sight of the sleeping blonde broke through the wall of terror, shattering the hold it had on her. The terror faded, replaced with a warm, fuzzy feeling, a feeling that Kylie had felt before; to her family and her friends, but this time...it was different somehow._

_"Hm."_

_That small sound was enough to wake the blonde swordsman. The warriors' strikingly blue eyes opened slowly._

_"How are you feeling?" he asked gently._

_She smiled slightly at the blonde, blue-eyed Cloud Strife, her savior. "I'm fine now," she said reassuringly. She met his eyes with her own emerald ones. "Thank you."_

_Cloud smiled the gentlest and most caring and loving smile she had ever seen._

_"I'll leave so you can get some more sleep," he saw the fear start to come back in her eyes. A look of understanding flashed across his face._

_He brought her right hand, still in his hand, to his mouth and brushed his lips across the back of it. She blushed scarlet._

_"This is my promise," he said kindly. "Whenever you need help or are in pain, whether physical or psychological, or if you call me, I will come." Cloud stood up, but sat down quickly. He clutched his arm and grunted in pain._

_"You're hurt!" Kylie jumped out of bed._

_"I'm fine."_

_Kylie rolled her eyes, and got a first aid kit out, along with a roll of bandages._

_"You're bleeding, too dizzy to stand up. You are not fine." She rolled his sleeve up and cleaned the wound, bandaging it afterwards._

Cloud did so.


	8. o7 Smile for Me

Battle of the Mages

"Smile for Me"

_Tai...tell my why you always where gloves._

_They make up for the shoes I don't wear._

_Do you really believe that?_

Sora was sitting at the edge of the bed, watching over the sleeping girl. She seemed so peaceful, never once moved from lying on her back - oh, she rolled over, onto her side. Once. Sora drew his breath, and let it out. Her hands rested above the blankets, and he couldn't help but note that she always, always wore gloves. He couldn't remember a time when she didn't. They were short, black, fingerless gloves, but still they were gloves. Not even during the hottest day of summer would she take them off, even when she was stripped down to - no that was Kairi in a swim suit. Tai _always_ wore something on her. It couldn't have been modesty. Elementary kids didn't have that yet. He couldn't help but wonder as he took one hand from the blanket. How small it was, not fully grown yet, but so much promise. He wanted to know why she always hid her hands. Even when she washed the dishes after dinner, she always made it a point to hide them in the wash water whenever he, Riku, or Kairi were around, and put her gloves on straight after she was done washing dishes.

So now he took her hand, ever curious to see what was under wraps. Gently, softly, his fingers probed the inside of the glove, lifting up from the end, and pulled up.

"No..." Tai moaned, pulling her hand away. Sora froze to see what else she would do. Her eyes were closed still, she couldn't have been awake. "No..." she repeated, clawing at the blanket now. Sora tilted his head to the side.

_A bad dream?_

"No, I said no...please...no...No...!"

_No, a terrible dream!_

One thing Sora knew, Tai never **ever** said please. Not once had he heard her, and she'd always refuse. Sora reached out, touched her cheek softly, and she recoiled.

"I didn't...don't..."

"Tai, wake up!" Sora demanded, shaking her shoulder now. "Tai!" Tai's eyes opened with a gasp, and she turned fearfully to look at Sora, his eyes fluttering.

"No, no, I'm sorry!" she screamed, squirming away from him. He let go of her shoulder to let her go, only to watch her fall off the bed.

"Tai, it's just me..." he assured her. For a long time he heard nothing from her, just the shaking of her small, almost frail body. He didn't understand, of course he didn't understand. He wouldn't.

_Never had I seen her so scared..._

"Tai?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"I'm fine!"

"..."

Sora climbed over the bed, watching Tai curled up in her new corner. She trembled violently, but her tremors began to quell, slowly, but surely, they began to quell.

"Was it a bad dream?" he asked her. He offered his hand, to help her back onto the bed. Tai sat there a little longer, mulling the question over in her mind, and soon decided...she didn't remember the reason or the dream.

"I don't know..." she admitted, taking his hand. He pulled her up in one easy movement, letting her hand go as soon as she was nearly on the bed. He giggled. "What?"

"It's like a slumber party," he said with a smile. She blinked at him.

"A slumber party?"

"Yeah. It's like...When a group of friends get together and hang at someone's house all night."

"Oh."

"Hey, Tai?"

"What?"

"Why do you always wear gloves."

Tai was silent for just a moment. She didn't know, again, and wondered why he kept asking strange questions. "If I answer, will you tell me something?"

"Yeah."

"The gloves make up for the shoes I don't wear," she answered. Sora laughed, knowing the amount of time Tai spent **not** wearing shoes. It was almost as frequent as the time she spent wearing gloves. What a backwards girl. "Now tell me...What islands?"

"Oh, about that...Well...We met three years ago, on the islands. Destiny Islands, it's called. You floated ashore with Kylie...You had a fever and Kylie found us and had Kairi fix you up. Kairi's my friend, you know, and Kylie's your friend. Right, well, Riku didn't really trust the two of you, because he thought the two of you were potentially dangerous, but he doesn't really know how potentially dangerous he could be!" At this Sora laughed. Tai merely blinked at the humor Sora tried to pass. While Tai didn't laugh, he cleared his throat and continued. "Kylie wanted to get a house for the two of you, but even Kylie was too young to own her own house, so the Mayor, though he didn't like it, truthfully, he sent the two of you to the orphanage."

"What else?"

_"Sora! I was on the beach, way past after everybody left! I saw the most amazing thing!" Riku gasped. Sora stared at him, nearly surprised that the serious silver haired boy had suddenly burst into his house without the permission of anybody who lived in the house._

_"What?" Sora asked, scrubbing a dish._

_"Tai dances on water."_

_"You sure of this?"_

_"Who else could dance on water!" Riku snapped. He laughed through his laboured breaths, and pushed his fingers through his hair. "It was amazing..."_

"I teased Riku about having a crush on you," Sora admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean after we all met, he always seemed to look out for you, anyway. He got you out of the orphanage whenever he could...Tai are you listening?"

"No," she answered bluntly. She was staring off in to space, it looked like. No, she was staring past Sora's shoulder. Unblinkingly she did, her eyes dull and bored, but concentrating fiercely. Slightly contradictory, but she did.

"What are you staring at?" he asked her.

"Eyes."

"Eyes?"

"Minty colored."

"Minty colored?" Sora turned around to see these "minty colored eyes" but when he did, he saw nothing but the blackness of eternal night. He frowned, returning his gaze to Tai, who had decided to stop listening to have a Staring Contest with the air. "Tai, there are no eyes out there," he said when she didn't stop staring. Tai's clear blue eyes fluttered, and she stared at him.

"What?"

"There are no eyes out there."

"What eyes?"

Sora gawked a moment before turning away to look somewhere else. Her case of amnesia definitely had to be severe. If only somebody could fix that.

"Tai?"

"Again?"

"Why don't you ever smile?"

"I smile."

"You giggle, but never smile."

"Honestly, Sora, do you really think I would know these things?"

"No, I guess not...But try, anyway."

Tai blinked. He wanted a smile. _Not so hard..._Tai parted her lips, and attempted a smile by baring her teeth...but there was no such luck in a smile. Sora shook his head, a natural smile parting his lips. Her attempt was scary.

"No, try this...Cheeeese!" he said, smiling widely. Tai attempted the same feat, but failed at the effort. Sora's jaw dropped. "Could it be?" he gasped.

"Could what be?"

"You don't know how to smile!"

"It could."

"No! You come with me! I refuse to allow your smileless face go on like this!" he proclaimed to the skies. He took Tai's gloved had, the one he tried to peek at earlier, and raced out of the hotel room.

Outside he searched for those creatures that they had encountered before. He knew Tai took pleasure in fighting, it gave her absolute joy! If only he could recreate that for her, maybe he could get her to smile. Smiling was an unconscious effort, no matter what anybody said about it. Even if it was subconscious, he would get that girl to smile! 

"Yoo hoo! Come out, little buggers!" Sora called into the air, hoping to get at least some response.

"I'm not a little bugger," said a recently familiar voice. Sora blinked, turning left to see the minty eyed Goldie Locks floating right beside him.

"Ah!" he screamed, stumbling backwards. The girl giggled, her eyes squinting with pleasure.

"Oh, slow, slow reaction time, you," she teased, sticking her tongue out. Sora bit his lip, ready to deny being scared. "Ooh! Ooh! Are you looking for the Heartless? Yeah, they're not here yet," she said with a light shrug. "They will be, yes they will be, soon, soon, soon!" Her eyes rolled around in such and animated fashion as her smiling lips spoke. Sora found it quite amusing, but he said nothing. "They should be here, in about...Ooh! Now!"

Sora blinked, watching as hordes of what the girl called "Heartless" appeared all around him. They were all just the same from his island, no different, and possibly just as weak. He grinned, turning around to face Tai.

"Hey, Tai, we - Tai?" He furrowed his brow. Tai was frozen in one spot, her face expressionless like it normally was. She was stopped in mid step, one arm stretched out in front of her from when Sora tugged her along. She wasn't moving! "Tai?"

"Ooh..." the floating girl cooed, hovering in the air stomach down. She examined the Tai statue and poked at her, watching her rock back and forth, and finally setting. "Yep, yep, I've seen this before. The Heartless have her, yes they do! Took her heart, they did, are you willing to get it back?" Suddenly the minty eyes were on him, looking deeply into his soul. At first, Sora was quite surprised. Then, as he eyes became solid and resolute, he nodded. The girl smiled, biting her lip through locks of golden hair. "I'll look forward to it," she breathed, and disappeared in a flash of light and smoke.

Sora gripped his giant key in his hands, the one that seemed to appear whenever he needed it. He stared at these "Heartless", wishing for his friend's heart back...Well, he wasn't sure what exactly the girl was saying to him. _They took her heart._ He wasn't sure what that meant. Either way, he rushed forward and, even though his fighting skills weren't as flashy as the younger Water Mage, his sloppy skills did the job well enough to cause damage and cause a drastic drop in Heartless.

He swirled his key around in a flashy array of silver and gold confetti light. Though he was only able to tackle one at a time, occasionally he hit more than just one, and in about three hits they exploded into clouds of dark mist. He whacked, stabbed, spun, and hit - in that order - the Heartless creatures that opposed him out right. When finally they were all gone, Sora huffed, wiping his forehead from any sweat, and returned to Tai.

"Tai, I - Tai?" Sora's mouth dropped. She hadn't come back to life. "Maybe if I wait a bit," he decided. _Tick, tock, tick_. "TAI!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbing both her shoulders. "Not you, too, I can't lose you, too!" he cried awkwardly. Giggles laughed behind him, and he spun around to see that same golden locked girl that kept stalking him ever since he got there. "What do you want?" he snapped at her. She raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, touchy," she said, and giggled again. "Looks like the only Heartless you didn't kill got away with little Taichi's heart, it did."

"Where is it, I'll hunt it down until my last life has whittled away," Sora growled with such a burning fury, the girl was nearly caught off guard from her thought process. What a determined boy he was.

"Impossible!" she chimed.

"What!" Sora snapped impulsively. The girl grinned, placing a finger to her lips, as if it were a secret.

"I cast Stop on her," she said. Sora let his mouth drop.

_Wait, what was "Stop"?_

"A magic spell," she said, reading his thoughts, but not purposely. She just happened to catch that single thought. "It's a Time Spell. Normally Mages can't use it, because they're elemental, only Wizards can, but someone taught me how," she explained. Her hand waved over Tai, and nearly instantly, Tai became animated again, at least as much as she was as not a statue. But soon after, the girl disappeared.

"As you were saying?" Tai asked, eyeing Sora as if nothing had ever happened. Sora looked at her, then smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I guess I can't right now," he admitted, looking away. He sighed, then shoved his hands in his pockets. "Let's go for a walk," he decided, and before she answered, he walked.

_I told you she held her breath when she fought._


	9. o8 I'll Open My Heart to You

Battle of the Mages  
"I'll Open My Heart to You"

"Oh, look Cloud look! It's the mall! Park! Park! Park!" The last three words had been said so quickly that Cloud hadn't been able to understand them.

"Bark?"

Kylie rolled her eyes. "Park! P A R K. Park. How'd you get 'bark' out of that?"

"There's only a one letter difference," Cloud mumbled as he parked.

"We're here we'reherewe'reherewe'reherewe'rehere! "Let'sgolet'sgolet'sgolet'sgo!" Kylie cried, bouncing up and down.

Cloud laughed. "You're like a little kid at Christmas."

"So? Cloud, I don't think you're comprehending this. It's. The. Mall. And I haven't been to one in **ages**!" Kylie jumped out of the gummi ship, closing the door behind her. Cloud shook his head, amused, before following her out. He stretched, and the loose long sleeve of his shirt went up to his elbow. He saw the skin of his left arm, infected with Geostigma, and sighed, pushing the sleeve back down. He didn't want to tell Kylie that he was going to die.

"Come on Cloud!" the girl in question yelled, waving in the middle of the parking lot.

Cloud saw some guys who looked to be about Kylie's age pass her. They glanced flirtatiously at her, but she ignored them. Cloud felt a hot, burning ball in his chest. It was so intense that he felt like he was going to explode.

As he got closer to Kylie, he broke into a jog and saw her smiling just for him. The feeling slowly faded.

"Feeling better?" she asked as he came up to her.

"What?"

"When those guys passed me you looked like you were about to kill them with your bare hands," Cloud then realized that that feeling had been jealousy.

"Come on!" Kylie grabbed his wrist and began dragging him into the mall. His wrist tingled as she touched it. He sped up until they were walking side by side, then he twisted his hand so that they were holding hands. Kylie blushed lightly, but didn't draw her hand away.

They were still holding hands as they walked into the mall. As soon as they walked in, she let go of his hand and ran to the map right in front of them. Cloud closed his eyes and shook his head, amused. When he reached her, she was still peering at the map.

"What are you doing?" he asked, standing right behind her.

"We're gonna go here, and here, and here, and here, and here!" Kylie exclaimed happily, pointing to many different stores. Cloud shrugged. It was his day off and he wanted to be asleep. Kylie turned to him, hands on her hips, and bumped her nose into the hollow of his throat. He was much closer to her than she'd thought. She placed a hand on his chest and pushed. "Back up a little bit." He took several steps back, and Kylie resumed her rant, hands returning to her hips. Before she started, she looked him up and down.

"You're freakishly tall."

"I'm five-ten!"

"Wow, that's kind of short for a guy."

Cloud rolled his eyes. He had always been shorter than everybody else. "Yeah, I know."

"Which makes me freakishly short," Kylie sighed, defeated. She hated being short. "I mean, I'm only five-four and a half, five-five-ish."

"Were you going to say something to me before you got distracted by our height?"

Kylie raised her eyebrows as she remembered. "Yes, I was! Cloud, I am excited to be here, can't you at least pretend to be happy?" Cloud was surprised. Once again, Kylie had managed to throw him off balance.

"Sorry."

"S'alright. Come on, let's go!"

"Actually, I need to get you a birthday present."

Kylie looked surprised. "You don't have to do that."

"I know, but..." Cloud looked at her, an unfamiliar emotion to both of them rising unbidden to his eyes. "...I want to," he finished quietly. Kylie nodded. She turned to the map and quickly studied it for a few seconds.

"Let's meet here in an hour and a half, okay?" she said, pointing to a large bookstore. Cloud nodded. Kylie smiled. Suddenly, Cloud didn't want to be separated from Kylie anymore than he wanted to gouge his own eyeballs out.

"See you in a bit," said Kylie, giving him a small wave before turning and walking away.

"Yeah...see you," he said, wanting to follow her. As soon as she was out of sight, Cloud studied the map. He had no clue where to start looking for a birthday present. What would a girl like Kylie like for her nineteenth birthday? Cloud decided to just browse, and buy whatever caught his eye.

After walking for a few minutes, he spotted a jewelry store. Cloud recalled that whenever Kylie wore jewelry, it was silver. She looked better in silver than gold, because silver matched her skin tone better. Cloud walked into the store. He was immediately met by a female clerk.

"Hello sir, and what might you be looking for today?" she asked, trying and failing to flirt with him. Cloud always ignored flirtatious girls.

"I'm just browsing," he said, brushing past her. She looked sad.

Cloud walked to the counter, looking for silver jewelry. Only a small section of the jewelry was silver.

Cloud was almost through looking for jewelry when he spotted the perfect piece. It was a silver bracelet, made of little twisted pieces of silver. A small tear shaped ruby hung in the middle, and small round rubies were set into it.

"Miss," called Cloud. The clerk hurried over. "I would like this bracelet." The clerk nodded, got it out of the display case, and wrapped it. Cloud handed her the munny.

"Is this for your girlfriend?" she asked as she was handing it over. Cloud suddenly imagined how nice it would be to have Kylie as a girlfriend, but then he shook his head. "Friend," he said, turning to leave the store.

As he was leaving, a ring caught his eye. It was silver with a red ruby set into it, instead of a diamond.

"That's an engagement ring," said the clerk, walking over. Cloud had spotted engraving on the bottom of the ring. It was in Japanese.

"Would you like to look at it?" the clerk asked. Cloud nodded. She took it out and handed it to him. He read the engraving. _Lovely Angel_. A picture of Kylie smiling at him suddenly popped into his head.

"How long is the warranty?" Cloud asked, figuring that he could always return the ring if nothing ever happened between him and Kylie.

"Ten years."

"I'll take it."

The clerk nodded, and rung it up. Cloud paid and left the store.

He browsed for a little while longer, until it was time to meet Kylie. He hid both boxes in his pocket, and set out to meet her.

As he neared the bookstore, he saw her standing outside, talking to some guy. She looked very uncomfortable, and kept glancing nervously around. Cloud quickened his pace, and, remembering what Kylie had said earlier, kept his face smooth.

As he walked up, he heard Kylie say, "I really have to go," and tried to edge away. The guy walked closer, and grabbed her arm. Kylie looked ready to either panic or beat him up.

"Don't touch me," she said lowly, dangerously. The guy's grip tightened. Kylie glared, and kneed him in the stomach, just as some of his friends walked up.

"Hey!" One of them yelled, coming to the guy's help. The new guy grabbed both of Kylie's arms, swung her around, and shoved her back. The other friend's came to join the fight. Kylie knew she could torch them, or just scare them away, but she wanted to keep the fact that she was a Mage a secret as long as possible, especially from Cloud.

Cloud reached the fight, and immediately fought his way through to get to Kylie. He beat the crap out of three guys before he reached her. Her captor was having a very hard time keeping a hold on her. She was squirming, hitting, kicking scratching, and biting. As her teeth sunk into his arm, he shouted out, but kept a hold on her. Cloud jumped into the air, foot ready to smash his nose into his brain and kill him. Kylie saw what he was doing, and twisted, so that Cloud's foot smashed into his forehead instead of his nose. He let go, and staggered away, followed by his friends.

Cloud hurried to Kylie's side.

"Are you okay?" he asked, professionally checking her for broken bones or bruises.

"I'm fine. We need to talk Cloud." She wasn't smiling in relief as he had expected her to. Cloud nodded, and they walked to a nearby bench and sat down.

"Why did you try to kill him?" she asked, fists clenched tightly in her lap.

Cloud was surprised. "I -"

"Do you like killing Cloud?"

"No -"

"Then why did you try to kill him?"

"He was trying to hurt you."

"I can take care of myself Cloud!" Kylie burst out.

"Sometimes you have to kill," said Cloud coldly, not looking at her. "Have you ever killed?"

Her head whipped around to stare at him. "I agree. Sometimes you have to kill. This was not one of those times! You kill to destroy evil, or preserve your life! Although," she laughed hollowly, "You kill for money."

"I've stopped!"

"After I told you that I hated it when you kill for no reason!" Something suddenly clicked in Kylie's brain. Maybe she was the one who could erase all his pain. Maybe that's why he stopped killing when she asked.

"Why are you so against killing?"

Kylie stood up, and grabbed his arm, and led him outside, onto a grassy hill. They sat down.

"Why are you so against killing?"

Kylie ignored his question, and stared out across the field they were looking over. Cloud opened his mouth to repeat his question a third time, but Kylie interrupted him.

"When's your birthday, Cloud?"

Confused, Cloud answered, "I don't have a birthday."

"Everybody has a birthday."

"I don't have a friggin birthday!" shouted Cloud, looking wildly into her eyes, pain spilling over. His eyes were bright with unshed tears. He couldn't cry.

Kylie felt her heart wrench. She wanted to make his pain go away. Kylie opened her arms. Cloud hesitated for a few seconds, then fell into them, sobbing wildly. Kylie held him as he shook, shedding tears that he had never been able to shed.

"What happened to you?" asked Kylie softly.

"My...my family and friends...all murdered...because of me."

"Why was it your fault?"

"There was a...a gang, where I lived. They wanted me in it. I refused, and they said that they would take everything precious away from me. I didn't...I didn't believe them." Cloud stopped for a few seconds. He was crying too hard to continue.

"So...slowly...one by one...they killed my family...and my friends...and after they killed them, they would come and yell...'It's your fault that they're dead, that they're suffering!' I killed my mother, on my birthday. She had gotten hurt in an attack, and she was dying. I couldn't save her. So I took a knife and I...I killed her!"

Cloud stopped, sobbing. A minute later he started again.

"I whispered...'I love you mom.' And she gave me a look of complete trust...then I killed her! It's all my fault that they all died! I killed them all!"

Kylie started rocking him back and forth slightly.

"Before you came to the Coliseum...before I met you...I was going to kill myself. That battle that I had just finished was going to be my last. I was going to go back to my room, clean my sword, slit my wrists, then, right before I bled out, slit my throat," Cloud heard a sharp intake of breath from Kylie.

"I got so angry when I found out that you cut yourself...because I cut myself too." Kylie eyed his arms.

"Not on my arms. My legs and my back. Places people can't see. I didn't want you to cut yourself because...I didn't want you to have to live through my life. I wanted you to live."

Cloud couldn't talk anymore. They just sat there, Cloud crying. Kylie was astonished that Cloud had all this bottled up inside. She was glad that he had told her. Hopefully, now he would begin to heal. After a while, Cloud calmed down, and the two sat there together.

"You're my drug," he whispered quietly.

For once, Kylie didn't blush.

"I hate myself," he whispered.

"Why?" asked Kylie gently.

"Because I am so weak and pathetic. Suicide is one of the weakest things a person could do, and I almost committed it," Another sob escaped him. "How? How can you be so strong, when I am so weak?"

Kylie started crying.

"I'm not strong," she whispered. "Not at all."

They sat in silence for a while longer.


	10. o9 Give me the Key

Battle of the Mages  
"Give Me the Key"

_A long time ago it was said that the worlds would fall to Darkness, swallowing every existence of Light that was known. In this time of peril, the one with the "key", the Keyblade's Chosen One, would appear to fight the Darkness and bring peace to the worlds. We've been here for hours and still...we've found nothing._

"Leon, what are we looking for again?"

"The 'Key'."

"How long will it take?"

"As long as it takes."

"Can't you give me an exact number?"

"Yuffie, like I can even tell you that much. And even if I did, and if we went about looking for that amount of time it took to not find the 'Key', you would be complaining that I said it would take the 'x' amount of time to find that 'Key', when really, I didn't know in the first place, and just gave you some random amount of time so that you could keep your mouth shut."

"Then why don't we just stop?"

The dragging tip of a dragging Gunblade stopped in its dragging track against a hard, cement ground. The blade was lifted from its low diagonal point so that it was straight up and down, and turned against the ground slightly, as the man who owned the Gunblade, Leon, turned to face his young, whiny partner with serious, cold blue eyes. The partner in question was a girl with short, black-brown hair, and uncanny attire that was easy to move in. She liked to claim that she was a ninja, but the only evidence that proved her claim was the headband that reached across her forehead and tied around the back of her head. If anybody caught her at first glance, they'd probably take her for a wannabe.

"You know we can't."

"And why not?" Yuffie demanded with such a stubborn pout. Leon, being the cool, silent type, merely pushed his fingers through his ratty brown hair, revealing the scar that cut diagonally across the bridge of his nose that he usually kept hidden behind his bangs. Yuffie's expression immediately softened. She, among all people, should know that whatever hope that came with this "Key" would be the recreation of all worlds, and the destruction of the Darkness that threatened the worlds. She, of all people, should know how important it was.

"Let's just go see if Cid's seen anything," Leon decided. The tip of the Gunblade moved, returning to the original diagonal dragging position it was in before he had stopped walking. Passing Yuffie, he expected her to follow, just as she always did, but stopped when he didn't hear the too-familiar footsteps of her orange-shod feet.

"Leon, I feel something," she said, staring expectantly in one direction. Leon repositioned his Gunblade, taking hold of it tightly in both hands instead of just lazily in one like he had been doing. Scanning the area, he expected it to be the Heartless that had been appearing more and more frequently, but he saw none, and especially didn't see what interested Yuffie so much. "Come on!" she ordered, running up the steps behind Cid's accessory shop and to the right where the door to the Second District stood hauntingly tall over the two allied fighters. She stopped just before the door, blinking once or twice and waiting for the door to open already, but gasped for breath when nothing happened and she realized she wasn't breathing.

"What was it?" Leon asked in approach to Yuffie. Yuffie turned and grinned at him, feeling so wildly accomplished as a ninja, that excitement had nearly completely blocked the ability to speak what was on her mind.

"Two energy signatures!" she said awfully loudly. "Two of them, and one of them, one of them -!" She took this moment to clench her fists and squeal with obvious excitement, while Leon, quite used to her fits of excitement, stared patiently and waited for her to finish. "One of them's the '**Key**'!"

"Why didn't you say something sooner!" he snapped, running past, but she just stopped him, tugging on the back of his jacket like it was the easiest thing in the world. But as he was stronger and heavier than her, she stumbled after him and fell right into his back. Still, he stood strong and still. "What?"

"They're coming."

And just as she expected, the two energy signatures busted through the door, both of them running, but not from something that wasn't behind them. Yuffie and Leon both blinked. Both of them were kids, and Yuffie said one of them was the "Key"? He looked at her, and she looked back, shrugging.

"I'll get 'em," she said, jumping into the air. Leon narrowed his eyes and ran after the two kids, he not necessarily having the ability to jump onto buildings as easily as his partner was, but this was just their long-practiced strategy for trapping enemies, or anyone else as important.

"Haa, stop right there!" Yuffie shouted, landing easily on both her feet in front of the two kids that had busted through the door. The two kids stopped, the boy pushing the smaller, even younger girl behind him protectively. When two more footsteps joined the party behind them, the boy, spun around and pulled the girl in his arms just as protectively. As much as he didn't like strange girls falling from the sky, he hated strange men that appeared with large, deathly weapons even more. "Okay, that was easy."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the boy demanded. The girl, being smothered by his arm, struggled to at least get her head free from his grasp. He loosened his grip, but wrapped his arms around her shoulders, which she still didn't appreciate so much.

"We've come for the Keyblade," Leon said, pointing his finger straight at the boy's head. The boy, looked at him wide-eyed, halfly wondering what the heck he was talking about, and halfly knowing exactly what he meant.

"What, you mean this?" he asked, a giant key forming in his hand in a glitter of gold and silver confetti light. Leon nodded, his face never changing from his ever-serious look. The boy glared, gripping the blade tightly and letting go of Tai. He moved in front of her, still very protective over the younger girl as he faced both Leon and Yuffie. "Why, what for?"

"Well, it's like this," Yuffie started, waving her finger in the air as she paced the space in front of the kids. "We take the Key, and you're safely free!"

"Whatever that's supposed to mean," grumbled the boy. Really, he could care less about what they were saying. They weren't taking his Keyblade, if that's what it was called, and they weren't getting anywhere near the two of them. While Yuffie spoke, he snuck his hand around the girl's own hand, holding it tightly and ready to run. If they could avoid fighting, they would, but if they had to, they would stand and fight.

"It's really about the Heartless. They -"

"Hey!" Leon shouted. Yuffie's eyes popped open to watch the two kids fleeing away from them...Well, really the boy was fleeing and the girl was being dragged behind him, not willingly, but not unwillingly either. "You let them escape!"

"_I_ let them escape? You were watching them!"

"You were the one blabbing your mouth!"

"Well, _excuse_ me for not liking being left hanging on a string of unanswered questions!"

"Whatever, let's just get them."

"Yeah, right."

Yuffie was the first to leave, again. She hopped into the air, on the rooftop of one of the few buildings in the First District. With both energy signatures memorized, she followed the two kids into the First District's square, where she jumped off the building, brandishing a large, over-sized shuriken that was her weapon and threw it straight at the little girl being dragged by the boy. The little girl, forcing her hand away from the boy's, spun around, a long black staff appearing from a swirl of water blue as she stopped the shuriken in its tracks. Yuffie was right on her afterwards, faster than a blink of an eye, and pushing the shuriken into the little girl's staff. Yuffie grinned, and the little girl...she just giggled with no smile.

With a sudden gasp, Yuffie's eyes widened just before she was blasted into the air by a jet stream of water. She landed right on the only part of her body with a built in airbag just at Leon's feet.

"That girl's creepy!" she jabbed with a shaky finger. The little girl's eyes narrowed, her knees bent slightly, and her hands spread across her staff pointed at Yuffie and Leon.

"Yeah, Tai, you go, kid!" shouted the boy from behind her. He wasn't there intentionally, but as he was in front of her when they were facing the other direction, he just so happened to stay behind her when they both turned around.

"Please tell me why you attacked her," Leon begged with his hand on his forehead. Yuffie blinked, staring up at him from down at his feet. She grinned a toothy grin, knowing she knew more than he, and taking in that feeling that she was quite special while he was simply normal.

"I know what she is," she said confidently. She stood, brushing off the back of her shorts from any dirt that happened to collect on the khaki color, and she disappeared in a swirl of windy grey. The boy gasped, hardly expecting the older girl to do something as amazing as that. Tai, who did, in fact, feel mild surprise, didn't show it as she spun around and jabbed at the nearly formed Yuffie before she disappeared again in the same windy grey. Before she appeared again, Tai pushed her hand in one direction where she knew Yuffie would be, another jet stream of water bursting out and shoving into the ninja-claiming Yuffie. Yuffie fell on her butt again, hurting more than just the built muscle. Hissing, she launched herself again at Tai, more in hopes of distracting her while Leon went for the bigger prize.

Sora was cheering Tai on when he happened to notice a fire ball flying straight toward him in some kind of murderous attempt...Well, maybe not that extreme. He forced himself to turn, Keyblade in hand, and waited for the flame to get closer before he held the Keyblade up to block. The flame bounced off the Keyblade and flew off into the distance before disappearing, and all he could see was the glaring blue eyes of the man with the Gunblade.

"Okay, I'm done," said Yuffie, finally settling down to take a break. Tai, having too much adrenaline running her mind, disappeared in a puddle, ready to appear again wherever she was needed.

Sora was fighting against Leon, Keyblade against Gunblade. Though Keyblade was quite strong, it had no experience against the mighty Gunblade. Leon easily saw through Sora's childish fighting skills. Sora never really learned how to fight, just learned how to swing a sword against another inexperienced player. Once Sora had been left open, Leon jabbed his Gunblade at the boy, but hit the staff of the younger girl that had appeared between the two.

Tai wasn't going to let Sora get hurt. He was the only person she knew; the only person she could remember. Besides, she had too much adrenaline to just stop fighting now. She shoved one end of her staff into the ground, shoving the other end into Leon's shoulder, who was forced to back up because of their close proximity. This time Tai was standing protectively in front of Sora, who merely grinned.

"You're so cowardly as to hide behind a little girl?" Leon asked from twelve feet away. Sora shook his head. That wasn't it at all.

"Nah, she enjoys fighting. Might as well give her what she wants," he responded from the other twelve foot distance.

"I'm warning you."

"Warning who?"

Leon didn't have time to answer. Tai was already in front of him, glaring up at him with strange, orange-yellow eyes that where drastically different from the clear, icy blue he'd seen before. He gasped in some mild surprised, but easily stopped a jet stream she had going for him. Though he was pushed back, he was now far enough away to point the Gunblade at her and release a fiery ball straight in her direction. She didn't waste time getting rid of the ball. She pointed her hand - palm face out - at the fiery ball, and concentrated a covering of water that completely incased the fire. The now-water ball circled around her and flew back at Leon, but as she wasn't watching, he was right behind her, blade held high. Tai spun around and shoved her block-positioned staff into the air to stop the attack, but when his Gunblade connected with her staff, she collapsed to her knees, trembling. Leon stopped his attack to check if she was alright, but even so, Sora was by her side first, holding her upright and shaking her gently so that she wouldn't close her eyes.

"Tai, it's not another fever, is it?" he asked, checking her forehead for any sight of fever. She shook her head, giving sign that she wasn't hot at all. "What'd you do!" he spat at Leon. Leon took a step back, too surprised at the force of energy this kid had to actually form an answer automatically like he usually was able to.

"I didn't do anything!" he spat back once he recovered. The two males glared at each other, each with their own thin, invisible line of challenge that attacked the other's line. "She's the one who was holding her breath the whole time!"

"She held her breath?" Yuffie wondered, walking up casually to join the group. With her hands on her hips, she showed no fighting intent, and just simply stared at the two kids on the ground. One was dizzily catching her breath, and the other was making sure she stayed alive long enough to do so. Yuffie screwed her lips a little and raised one eyebrow while the other furrowed close to the bridge of her nose. "Is it me, or does she always seem to be in his arms?"

"Do you guys mind? I'm taking her back to the hotel!" Sora said out loud. He stood, pulling the gasping girl up with him and made sure she wouldn't fall down again. Leon, ignoring his previous intent, stole the girl from Sora, and easily lifted her onto his shoulder, which didn't go quietly with Sora. "Hey, what are you doing! Put her down, now!" Leon simply ignored him and glared at Yuffie, who grinned sheepishly, because she knew that she should have felt their energies in the hotel, but she just didn't.

"Do you mind, I'm trying to help," Leon finally said to Sora, shutting him up.

"Yeah," Yuffie agreed with a nodding smile. "See, as you wouldn't stand to listen before, we only wanted your Keyblade because the Heartless - those black creatures - were using it to track you down. We really didn't want a fight."

"We just wanted to make sure our only hope wasn't the idiot to fall to Darkness," Leon finished. He started walking first, a Tai still on his shoulder without a word, and with no more gasps. Sora stared after her, then finally went to catch up with the Leon who took her on his shoulder.

"By the way," Yuffie started, following close beside Sora. "I'm Yuffie, and he's Leon."

"I'm Sora," Sora replied politely. "She's Tai."

"Does she talk?"

"Yeah, she does."

"Not very much, I suppose."

"She doesn't talk unless she's spoken to. I don't know why, but that's just how she is. Anyway, what exactly are the Heartless. I mean, I've seen 'em before, but what are they?"

"Beings created from the deepest darkness of the most fragile of hearts," Leon answered out of turn. Yuffie nodded, with that ever present smile that seemed to be there more than most of the time.

"They feed on the light inside peoples hearts, leaving only the Darkness to grow and consume that person, it changes them into a Heartless as well," continued Yuffie.

"It's the Darkness in peoples' hearts..." mumbled Leon with such a dark air. There wasn't much of a pause before Yuffie finished that sentence.

"...That's what attracts them."


	11. 10 Wishes to Help

Battle of the Mages  
Wishes to Help

"Let's go home," said Cloud, getting up. Kylie nodded, and followed him to the gummi ship.

The tension in the gummi ship on the way back to the Coliseum was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Cloud glanced at Kylie. She was staring straight out the windshield, hands clasped in her lap, not moving.

Cloud reached over and flipped on the radio, hoping to break the silence.

_Looking back at me  
I see that I never really got it right  
I never stopped to think of you  
I'm always wrapped up in things  
__I cannot win_

_You are the antidote that gets me by_  
_Something strong, like a drug_  
_That gets me_  
_High_

_What I really meant to say_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_I am_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_Never meant to be so cold_  
_What I really meant to say_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_I am_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_Never meant to be so_  
_Cold_

_To you_  
_I'm sorry 'bout all the lies_  
_Maybe in a different light_  
_You can see me stand on my own again_  
_Cause now I can see_

_You are the antidote that got me by_  
_Something strong, like a drug_  
_That got me_  
_High_

_What I really meant to say_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_I am_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_Never meant to be so cold_  
_What I really meant to say_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_I am_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_Never meant to be so cold_  
_I never meant to be_  
_So cold_

_I never really_  
_Wanted you to see_  
_The screwed up side of me that I keep_  
_Locked inside of me so deep_  
_It always seems to get to me_  
_I never really wanted you to go_  
_So many things you should have known_

_I guess what I mean is just know_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_What I really meant to say_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_I am_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_Never meant to be so cold_  
_What I really meant to say,_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_Is I'm sorry for the way_  
_I am_  
_I never meant to be so cold_  
_Never meant to be so cold._

"Cold, by Crossfade," said the DJ on the radio.

Cloud looked at Kylie. She met his gaze, and the look in her eyes told her that this song explained many of the things that Cloud wanted to say to her, but couldn't. The look in her eyes told him that she understood.

They both turned back to the road as the next song came on.

_Welcome to the planet  
Welcome to existence  
Everyone's here  
Everyone's here  
Everybody's watching, you know.  
Everybody waits for you now  
__What happens next?  
What happens next?_

_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to lift yourself off of the floor_  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to move_  
_Like it didn't ever happen_  
_It didn't ever happen before_

_Welcome to the fallout_  
_Welcome to resistance_  
_The tension is here_  
_The tension is here_  
_Between who you are and who you could be_  
_Between how it is and how it should be_

_Yeah_  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to lift yourself off of the floor._  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to move_  
_Like it didn't ever happen_  
_It didn't ever happen_

_Maybe redemption starts as a child_  
_Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell_  
_Where can you run to escape from yourself?_  
_Where you gonna go?_  
_Where you gonna go?_  
_Salvation is here._

_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to lift yourself,_  
_To lift yourself off of the floor_  
_I dare you to move_  
_I dare you to move like it didn't ever happen_  
_It didn't ever happen,_  
_It didn't ever happen,_  
_It didn't ever happen before_

"Dare You to Move, Switchfoot," said the DJ.

Kylie looked at Cloud, who met her gaze. The same thing happened as with the other song. She wanted him to lift himself off of the floor.

Before another song could start, they arrived at the Coliseum, and Cloud cut the engine. They sat there for a few seconds, then Kylie opened her door and got out, closing it with a thump. Cloud followed her out. After he had closed his door, he locked the gummi ship and followed Kylie inside.

Just as she was about to disappear inside her room, Cloud called her name.

"Kylie!"

As she turned, she was swept into a hug. She blushed.

"Thank you," Cloud whispered into her hair. "You healed me. You saved my life. When you fell from the sky, I decided that I might as well do something good before I died. I decided to save your life, and when you got well, kill myself. But, in the first few hours after we met, you made me laugh. I hadn't laughed in a long time. You made me feel feelings that I had smothered for a long, long time." Cloud stopped so his voice wouldn't break, then continued. "Thank you Kylie. Oh, Kami, thank you!" He hugged her tightly. They stayed that way for a few moments. Then, Cloud leaned down slightly, and pressed his lips against her forehead. "Goodnight Kylie," He let her go, and she disappeared into her room after flashing him a confused and scared look.

After her door closed, Cloud sighed and leaned against the wall. It was all right if she never understood, or returned his feelings. It would actually be better if she never did. Then, she wouldn't have to deal with so much pain and sorrow.

Cloud walked back to his room, closing and locking the door. He sat on his bed, and thought about the look of fear that she had given him. She was scared of him. He felt the fragile life that he had built with Kylie come crashing down. It was too much too soon.

Cloud removed his shirt, looking in sorrow at his infected arm. He then took a knife hidden under his bed, and drew it across his back, adding another scar to his already scar covered back. As the blood dripped down his back, he thought, _Why am I still here? The girl I love is scared of me. I should have been dead a long time ago._ Cloud continued cutting.

In Kylie's room, she was sitting on her bed, thinking about what had just happened. Why had he hugged her? Why did he tell her all of this? They were friends, sure, but the things he had told her were things you would only tell to the person you loved. She shook her head at the stupid thought. Cloud didn't love her. But if he didn't love her, what was that kiss all about? For a friend, a hug, she could understand, but kisses were reserved for the people you loved. Kylie was upset that the person that she loved could feel this pain, and she couldn't help at all.

Kylie got up, and turned on her radio.

In Cloud's room, knife bloody, he reached over and turned on his radio to the same radio station as Kylie.

_You wanted to,  
Grab a brush and put a little makeup,  
You wanted to,  
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup,  
You wanted to,  
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?  
You wanted to,_

_I don't think you trust,  
In, my, self righteous suicide,  
I, cry, when angels deserve to die, Die,_

_Wake up,  
Grab a brush and put a little (makeup),  
Grab a brush and put a little,  
Hide the scars to fade away the (shakeup)  
Hide the scars to fade away the,  
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?  
Here you go create another fable_

_You wanted to,  
Grab a brush and put a little makeup,  
You wanted to,  
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup,  
You wanted to,  
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table,  
You wanted to,_

_I don't think you trust,  
In, my, self righteous suicide,  
I, cry, when angels deserve to die  
In my, self righteous suicide,  
I, cry, when angels deserve to die_

Kylie pictured Cloud earlier in the gummi ship, and the thought that he had conveyed to her with the song Cold. She knew that Cloud felt this way too.

Cloud was shocked at how well the song conveyed his thoughts. He wished that Kylie could hear the song, and know that he felt this way.

Kylie took out a hidden knife, and, depressed, began to cut her arm.

Cloud suddenly felt a twinge in his arm, and Kylie felt a twinge in her back. They both knew that the other was cutting themselves. The two young adults rose, ready to run to the others room. Kylie was quicker than Cloud. Before he had even risen from his bed, she had burst through the locked door. For a split second, he wondered how she had gotten through the locked door, until he noticed the blood dripping down her arm. His face contorted in rage.

"What are you doing?" Cloud shouted at her.

"I could ask you the same thing!" yelled Kylie, noticing the bloody knife.

Cloud ignored her. "Why do you care what I'm doing?" Kylie was taken aback. She had asked almost the exact same thing that morning.

"Self mutilation is not the answer Cloud!"

Cloud grew furious. And in his rage, he said unspeakably cruel things.

"Shut up! You act as if you were so self righteous and perfect and pure, but you're not! You cut yourself too! And your hands are stained with blood, as are mine! So don't you dare judge me!"

Kylie recoiled as if he had hit her.

"I was just trying to help…"

"Well don't! I don't need your friggin help! You have your own issues so why don't your try to fix them instead of trying to solve mine!"

Kylie's eyes welled up with tears.

"I hate you."

Cloud felt his heart break, but in his anger, the pain was numbed. He wasn't angry at her though. He was angry at himself. He couldn't stop cutting, and he was ashamed. And he was taking it out on her.

"Good. I hate you too!"

A single tear, pure as crystal, rolled down Kylie's cheek. That one tear broke through the wall of numbness and pierced Cloud.

"Kylie," he said, moving forward. Kylie turned and bolted back to her room. Cloud clenched his fist, even angrier at himself for all the stupid things he had said and done. He sat back down on his bed.


	12. 11 Coconut Dummy

Battle of the Mages

Coconut Dummy

Tai sat on the railing of the balcony, swinging her legs back and forth the keep the blood from rushing to her toes. Such an uncomfortable feeling it was. It made her toes feel swollen and hot and it stung. Back and forth, she swung her legs, staring up at the stars. She didn't dare make a wish this time. She advised herself against it without knowing why. Besides, she didn't have a wish today anyway.

Inside Sora lie asleep on the floor. Why he didn't take the bed, she wasn't really sure. He was quite exhausted after the day had run out of nonexistent daylight. He was obscenely tired after listening to the many explanations Yuffie the Wind Mage and Leon the Warrior had to give to him. He had so many questions: about the Keyblade, about the many different worlds, about finding his friends...They couldn't give him much about his friends, but what they could give him he deemed helpful as it was.

Tai pushed the palms of her hands against the railing, holding herself steady as she looked back to see Sora on the floor; her hair was so long it trailed against the floor of the balcony. Sora was so sad when he heard that Yuffie and Leon hadn't seen his friends at all. Kairi, Riku, Kylie...He missed them so much it hurt. But Tai didn't share the same longing he did, so she returned her gaze to the sky, kicking her legs back and forth like she had been.

"Riku...He was scary," she hummed.

"That's what you said when we first met?"

"Did I?" Tai tilted her head back, just to see a familiar silver haired boy that brightened a silhouette against a big black blank. She didn't know why he was familiar; it was just the same as when she found Sora. The name and the face matched her memory. This Riku; his name and face matched the one in her memory. This was Riku, one of the friends Sora wanted to find. He was here.

"Yeah, don't you remember?" he checked, leaning in close to Tai's upside down face. She repositioned herself forward, so she didn't see him anymore. Not that she had to. She felt her face heat up. The closer he came, the warmer her face was. By now it was pinched with bright red that smeared right across her cheeks.

"I-I don't," she answered with a hint of a stutter. She threw her legs back over the railing, beating them both down on the balcony as she stood. Inside, Sora stirred in his sleep, but he did not wake. She shoved her hands in her pockets, feeling as if she needed to find something, to offer something as tribute to the silver-haired boy that made her blush.

"You don't?"

"Uh uh..." she shook her head. A silent whine escaped through her nose, high pitched and clear, but still so silent. Her icy, clear-blue eyes widened high above her red blushed cheeks, her head turning downwards the more and more her eyes widened, her hair hiding more and more of her blush. Riku frowned, furrowing his eyebrows deeply the more she hung her head.

_Perhaps there was a reason he appeared in front of her._

"Tai?"

No answer.

"Tai is something wrong?" he asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder. He was forced to pull his hand away again when suddenly she gasped, presenting to him, with her arms outstretched in front of her, a keychain dummy made of shells. "What's this?" he asked.

"It's for you," she answered, flushing red.

"Why?" he wondered, not looking specifically at the keychain dummy made of shells. Instead, he stared more specifically at the sewing needle sticking out of her finger that she didn't seem to notice...at all.

"I don't like coconut milk."

"Tai, this isn't coconut milk."

"That doesn't make it not for you."

_She must remember something._

Riku smiled, wrapping only his index finger around the ring of the chain, taking the dummy made of shells safely away before he fully focused on her finger. He took her hand in his ever so gently, pulling it close so he could easily see the thin silver needle sticking uncomfortably deep in her third finger. Even as it wasn't in his own finger, he imagined the pain as he pulled it out of hers, but not even she winced.

"Doesn't that hurt?" 

"It felt funny."

_Why did she bypass the thought process that came with every living being?_

"Tai -"

"Riku -"

"Tai!"

So far as her dreams would only allow, he disappeared instantly before anything important was said to either of them. In a swirl of black and purple, he was gone before a blink of light shone through the doorway. He was gone before she even decided for herself that he was actually really there. When he went away, Sora took his place, already taking Tai's hand and leading her away from the hotel building.

She didn't realize it before they left, but when they stopped for Sora to catch his breath, spots of Darkness surrounded them in an instant. From the spots: beings that belonged in the Darkness formed violent, physical manifestations. Heartless, but they weren't like the previous Heartless they encountered before. These were different; stood on only two feet, and wore armour that clanked and clunked whenever they moved. These ones spun when they attacked, kicking with the full force of their spin. Sora was able to block them and attack, beating them down with his Keyblade that produced silver and gold confetti light whenever he hit anything. Tai held her staff, using the force of one side to hit and the other to block.

A giggle and a song floated from far away to their ears. Tai stopped first, ignoring the attacks from Heartless that missed her completely. Drawn to the sound - she was, - of the singing voice that was meant to lead her away. After her, the Heartless stopped as well, not following, but leading away from the Second District that kept them. Sora stood up to his full height once the Heartless had left, and to his unneeded surprise: no Tai!

"Tai!" he called, searching left and right. "Tai!" he called again, searching forward and behind. "Tai, where are you!" he yelled into the air, but no answer from the absent Water Mage. Even the Heartless eluded him as to where they were headed.

_Did you really believe that she could dance? You never saw her before, how could you know? How could you deny it? Do you believe it now?_

Sora licked his lips, vexed now that he was surrounded by giant blocks of ice that refused to let him out. His search denied him time. Before he knew it, he was standing right in the middle of the Third District where Tai was dancing away with music that only existed now in her head. She moved her arms, she twirled about, she reached to the star-studded sky, and fell again to her feet. Two others who had fallen from the sky - a duck and a goof - stood staring; one from below Sora's height and the other from above. Sora knew he knew less and less the more he spent time with the mysterious, light-brown haired girl that danced with no music.

_Do you believe me now?_

Slow and calm, she reached above her head and bent with one leg outstretched behind her, and touched the ground with just her fingertips. Little blood smeared on the smooth, blue-grey cement of the deserted Third District, and she looked up, a flash of orange-yellow boring deep into their souls. Sora, the duck, and the goof gasped. A flash of dark electric light exploded just before their eyes, a ghostly black and purple Darkness bending and forming in a symmetrical pattern that towered high above the three.

"_Not even looking at the scenery._"

The first, the one with the Keyblade, pressed his lips together, resolute in what he was about to do. The ghostly black and purple Darkness took on a physical form of a giant armour with no body. Sora rushed forward, Keyblade humming with the power to destroy the Darkness.

"_There is the place you're going._"

The other two, the duck and the goof, followed suit right after the "Key" with only their courage to back them up. Even if they couldn't do much, their power lied with the assistance they could give the "Key".

"_With merely a single life..._"

The giant amour stared down at the puny three through its metal, slit visor. The gauntlet moved of its own accord, falling right on top of Sora and his comrades. Squashed, they refused to be, so Sora rolled out of the way, the goof held his shield high in the air, and the duck cast Stop and left the gauntlet hanging right there in the air as Sora, with his Keyblade, jumped high into the air and jammed the Keyblade straight down into the back of the hand. With black smoke, it disappeared. The other gauntlet swung palm out at Sora, who smashed at it with a series of non-critical attacks. A Lightning bolt from the goof caught the gauntlet dead on and it dropped, splashing into the same black smoke as its twin gauntlet. For now only the legs and the torso remained. Sora felt no need to waste time on the legs when he could go straight for the torso. Behind him, the duck had cast ice and the goof had again cast thunder; giant crystal icicles jutting from its chest and a bright yellow sky-gash slamming hard into the head. Sora, with no magic spells of his own, jumped as high as he was able, slicing with his Keyblade from the side.

The whole armour disappeared before his blade touched the thing; replaced with an orange-yellow-eyed kid and her long black staff. Her hair fell forward, delayed by time. When their feet touched the ground, she tapped at his Keyblade above, below, from the side, backwards, and passed her staff from one hand to the next while spinning it behind her. Sora would only block, as she attacked just his Keyblade. Once she slammed the end of her staff into the ground, shoving the other end into his shoulder, just as she had done with Leon.

"_...you struggle to reach that place._"

Sora's Keyblade didn't touch a black staff anymore. A black staff didn't even hit him. He froze when he felt the cold metal of a short bladed weapon so dangerously close to his ear. She flung her arms back to her bubble, elbows bent and her fingers spinning two mythril blue daggers between the gaps. When they stopped spinning, un-gloved hands held the blades upside down by the hilt where the blades were closest to her wrists. Not even bothering to use her blades, she threw a hard-fisted punch right at his face. Not wanting to hit and cause any damage to her, he blocked her punch at the blade with his own Keyblade, stopping the punch's movement; he twisted the Keyblade and jammed the hilt into her chest to put some distance between them.

"Tai, what are you -!"

A heavy yellow bolt smashed right on top of Tai, creating flashes of black and yellow and blue. Tai's unusually boyishly childish scream pierced the air. The daggers in her hands disintegrated in the black light before the bolt disappeared in the air. Few breaths were taken before she dropped to her knees, anything that was loose - her long hair and her shirt - falling slightly up as she went down. As always, Sora was right at her side, his arms around her to keep her from hitting the ground and causing possible concussion.

_So, she did feel pain._

"What did you do that for!" Sora shouted at the goof who so obviously wielded the lightning bolts like a master. The goof who rubbed the back of his head so apologetically stared at his shuffling feet beneath him without much of an answer that would satisfy an angry teenage boy.

_I understand now why you never wore a swimsuit when all the rest of us did._

"I'm sorry; I thought she was the enemy."

"I'm sorry...I should have stopped. Then you would have seen."

_I understand now why you avoided dressing down when you could._

"She doesn't fight people who call it quits."

"Is she alright?"

_Why you always wore gloves..._

"She's not breathing."

_You didn't want to scare us with the bandages..._

"I can fix that!" quacked the duck.

_...or the scars._

Sora only let the duck approach the unconscious kid. With three fingers and one thumb, the duck who had power over a few different magics touched her chest, sending just enough of an electric shock through his fingers to her heart, to give it the kick start it needed to work again.

"Tai, tell me you're alive, okay!" he shouted in her ear. One icy blue eye after the other opened up slowly, but not widely enough to be awake. Sticking her tongue out, she yawned, long and loud and dropped her head against Sora's shoulder.

"Only if you tell me you'll shut up," she quipped. Sora grinned, hugging her too awfully tightly for it to be an "I'm-happy-you're-alive" hug.

"Tai, I promise...For as long as I live, I'll protect you with my life, I promise you."

"Okay, can you let go now?"

"You're ruining the moment."

"I don't care."

But even the emotionless Mage did care. Sora knew he saw it, the glimmer of smile. The tug at the corner of her lips gave it away. Even if she couldn't, she wanted to smile, but she wasn't yet willing to give away that smile just yet. It was much too early for her.

_I don't know what happened, but I promise I will make you smile again._


	13. 12 Doughnuts

Battle of the Mages  
Doughnuts

Till about eleven o'clock that night, he kept cutting his back, over and over. When one cut stopped bleeding, he would slice another one.

Back in her room, Kylie cried herself to sleep.

Eleven o'clock that night.

After sleeping briefly, Cloud woke up that night, and cut his back again.

Kylie woke up, face streaked with tears. She got the packet of pictures and letters, and opened it, spreading it out on her bed. There were a few letters between her and her sister, Mary, the time Mary had gone to camp. There were lots of pictures of Kylie with her sister, and some with her parents. There were also some pictures of Kylie and Tai.

There was a picture of Kylie's beautiful blonde sister, and her dark haired boyfriend, Tom. Kylie looked at that picture, and felt the anger and guilt well up in her chest. She looked at the next picture. It was her sister's mangled body, after Tom had killed her. She started to cry. She looked at the next picture. It was a picture of her mother after Tom had killed her too. The next picture was of her father after a man named Ansem had killed him. The next-to-last picture was a picture of Kylie's high school after she had burned it. The last picture was a picture of many, many new graves in a graveyard. They were all people who had cruelly ridiculed Kylie. Kylie had accidentally killed them when she lost control of her powers. They had died in the fire at her high school.

Cloud lifted the knife from his skin, washed it off, and put it back underneath his bed. He suddenly felt that Kylie was crying. Forgetting their fight, he went to her room, with the sole purpose of making her smile again.

He opened her unlocked door, and found her crying, head buried in her arms, resting on her knees, with fireballs floating all around her. Her light was off, but the fireballs took the place of the electric light.

"You can use magic?" he asked. Kylie's head whipped up. She saw Cloud, and was astonished that he had come after their fight. Kylie nodded.

"I'm the Fire Mage," she said, not caring anymore if he found out. She looked down, and saw the pictures. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She jumped up, ran to Cloud, and threw her arms around the still shirtless man, sobbing. Cloud hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

"You're bleeding!" gasped Kylie, hand sticky from blood.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I'm more worried about you."

Kylie unwrapped her arms, and led him to her bed. He sat down by the pictures. She got her first aid kit, and began cleaning his wounds. She was astonished at how many scars he had. He had obviously started cutting himself long before she had. It must have taken years to accumulate all his scars.

When Kylie was done bandaging him, Cloud asked, "What are these pictures?"

Kylie leaned against her headboard, and Cloud moved up to join her.

"You told me your story, so I'll tell you mine." She sighed, then continued. "My sister, Mary, was...beautiful, blonde, and three years older than me. She was my only friend. Besides Tai of course. We were best friends, just as much as Tai and I are. She would not go to the movies with her friends so she could go with me. I loved her so much." Kylie swallowed the lump in her throat, and continued. "Eventually, Mary got a boyfriend. He had dark hair, and his name was Tom. Everybody loved Tom, but he had a bad side. He hit my sister. I was the only one who knew. He brainwashed her into telling me not to tell. I didn't. Every time he got mad and beat her up, he would blame it one me, since I was the one who usually made him mad. I didn't do it intentionally, but he said that just looking at me mad him mad."

Kylie started to cry.

"Eventually, Mary figured out that this was wrong. She tried to break up with him. He took his pocketknife and slashed her to pieces. I heard screams, and came running downstairs. I found him standing over the mutilated corpse of my sister. He ran." Kylie was sobbing. Cloud put his arm over her shoulder, hoping to lend some comfort. She leaned against him.

"The police tried to find him, but he had disappeared. That's when I started cutting myself. Later, he came back, and killed my mother the same way, to get rid of all the traces of Mary, I think, since Mary looked like my mother. When I found him standing over my dead mother, I lost it. I summoned my staff, which turned into my swords for the first time, and I killed him, using my swords and my magic," Kylie took a moment to sniff and wipe her eyes, "A Mage has a staff to begin with, and then, when they can control their magic more, and it gets more powerful, it turns into a certain weapon.

"One day, the high school held a memorial type thing, for Mary. I had to go up to the front and talk about her. I didn't want to, but they made me. At that time, I didn't have perfect control over my magic. Anyway, everybody in the audience was talking about how I deserved this, but Mary didn't, about how they wished I had died instead of Mary. As you know, grief and anger mixed make a deadly combination. I lost control, burned the high school down, and killed everyone in it.

"After that, I walked home, numb with guilt and grief, and found a man standing over my death father. He was wearing black clothes, and he had long silver hair. He said his name was Ansem, and he had killed my father for so that my powers would reach their potential in my grief. I tried to kill him, but he disappeared. I buried his body myself.

"There was no proof against me for destroying the high school, so they couldn't prosecute me. Tai helped me heal a little bit, then the storm happened, and we ended up on the Destiny Islands. And that is when my fake life began.

"I...lied when I said that I used to be a cutter. I still am, like you. I pretended to be happy. I had hardly healed at all. But with you Cloud, I can be myself, whether that's happy or sad, because you know what it's like to lose a loved one."

Cloud wrapped both his arms around her. "I am so sorry," he said, crying a bit too.

"About what?"

"Your life, and the things I said to you."

"I'm sorry too. About the same things."

Cloud smiled, and, in an attempt to change the subject, even just a little, he said, "I once knew a girl named Tai."

"Real -" Kylie spotted his arm. "Cloud, what's that on your arm?"

Cloud sighed. _Crap. She found out._

"It's a disease, called Geostigma. It's like a cancer...I will die from it..." He saw her look of horror, then she leaned closer to examine it.

"Cloud, I can heal this."

"You can?"

Kylie nodded. "Yes, but not tonight. I'm too tired. Tomorrow, though. I can use my magic to burn the infection out. It will be very painful."

"I don't care. I finally have something to live for, and I can live!"

Suddenly, Cloud remembered something. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the bracelet box. He opened it, and gave it to her.

"Happy birthday," he said.

Kylie gasped. "Cloud, it's beautiful! Thank you!" Cloud put it on for her. She examined it closer after it was on.

"I love it Cloud. Thank you." She looked deep into his eyes. Slowly, he leaned forward, and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Kylie blushed.

"I love you," he said, once he had drawn away.

I...I love you too." They both felt their hearts soar. The person they loved loved them back. Cloud hugged her, then he got up.

"I'm tired. Do you mind if I go to bed?"

Kylie shook her head. "Not at all."

Before Cloud closed the door, Kylie said, "Thank you Cloud."

Cloud looked back and smiled his true smile again, then he said goodnight, and closed the door.

Kylie smiled also, put away the pictures and letters, climbed into bed, then made the fireballs disappear. For the first time in a long time, she was totally and completely happy.

Cloud climbed into bed, smiling. He was happy, through and through. 

Cloud woke slowly the next morning. His back ached, and blood was splattered across his sheets. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Kylie standing uneasily in his open doorway. She was dressed in a tank top and black pajama pants. Cloud sat up, blankets falling off of his bare chest.

"Hey."

"Hey." Kylie looked uncomfortable. The two looked at each other awkwardly for a while. It was 10:47, very late in the morning.

"You...wanna get some breakfast?" asked Cloud hesitantly, probing the waters, trying to find out what he could safely say. Yes, the day before had been a day of revelations, but he had hoped that things wouldn't be awkward between the two of them.

Kylie smiled gratefully before nodding. "Yeah. Let me go get dressed."

Cloud nodded, and she turned and left, closing the door behind her. He got up, and got dressed also. When they were both dressed, they walked to the kitchen together, not quite holding hands, but close enough so that their arms occasionally brushed. When they got there, food was spread out on the counters. Cloud headed directly for the fridge, and out of it, pulled a container of cold rice with a label on it that said "Cloud". The permanent residents of the Olympus Coliseum kept food in the fridge and such. The kitchen had several other fighters in it, only one a permanent resident. She had a box of doughnuts in front of her.

"Hey, Sarah. Can I have one of your doughnuts?" asked Kylie, grinning. She loved doughnuts. Sarah, startled, looked up from her book.

"Wha -? Oh, hey Kylie. Happy birthday. Sorry I didn't tell you yesterday. I didn't see you. Yeah, sure, you can have some. Consider it my present to you, since I didn't get you anything."

Kylie laughed. "Sure, sure. You just didn't want to shop, is that it?"

Sarah looked guilty. "Well, yeah, and also, I had no idea what to get you!"

"A gift card to a music slash video game slash bookstore. A bookstore with a good selection of manga, preferably."

Sarah laughed. "You're so weird," Kylie bowed.

"Thank you. I take that as a compliment."

Cloud, sitting at a different table eating his rice with chopsticks, was relieved to see that the awkwardness of that morning was gone, and that Kylie wasn't going to let it ruin her day.

Kylie grabbed the whole box of doughnuts and ran away.

"Ha ha! Powned!"

Sarah grinned and stood. "Kylie..."

"Alright, alright, fine."

A few of the guys in the kitchen were watching her. Cloud felt the jealousy rise in him again, and this time the intensity almost scared him. He chomped down on his chopsticks, and felt instant pain. Carefully, he removed the chopsticks from his mouth, probing around it with his tongue. He tasted no blood, and no teeth were broken. He'd just bitten down too hard.

A shadow fell across him. He looked up, and found Kylie. She was grinning, and holding a cream filled doughnut.

"You okay?" she asked, looking concerned. He nodded.

"I just bit my chopsticks a bit too hard."

Kyra smiled and sat down. The two were eating in silence for a while. Cloud finished his rice, but he continued sitting, lending a companionable silence to their small universe. Cloud opened his mouth to talk, and something was stuck into it. Without thinking, he chewed and swallowed. It was a piece of bread, some cream on it, sweet and delicious. He swallowed and licked his lips, before looking at Kylie. She was grinning, holding the last half of her doughnut.

"Good?"

Cloud licked his lips again and nodded. Kylie smiled.

"I knew you'd like sweet things."

Cloud cocked an eyebrow. "And how did you know that?"

Kylie shrugged. "I dunno. You just seem like the kind of person who likes sweets."

Cloud shrugged. "You're right. I love sweets."

Kylie laughed. "I'm surprised you're able to keep that stomach if you love them that much though," And here she hit the palm of her hand against his rock hard abs. She pulled it away, wincing and shaking her hand. "Ouch," His stomach was hard, developed muscle.

Cloud smirked. "You like sweets too, right?" Kylie nodded eagerly. "Then how do you keep that stomach if you love them that much?" Kylie looked down at her stomach. She had washboard abs, and you could see a few of the muscles, although Cloud had way more than she did. Kylie grinned, looking back up at him.

"Touché, my dear swordsman," Kylie finished her doughnut, until only one bite remained. Looking at Cloud, who was staring off into the distance, totally zoned out, she smirked evilly. "Hey Cloud?"

"Hm?" He didn't look over.

"Open." Since it was Kylie telling him what to do, he didn't even think twice about refusing. He opened his mouth, and the last bits of the doughnut landed in it. He smiled as he chewed and swallowed. Looking over at the newly revealed Fire Mage, he found her smiling, and licking the tips of her fingers.

When they were clean to her satisfaction, she leaned back in her chair.

"So what do you want to do today?"

Cloud leaned back, too.

"I have a fight tonight at seven, but other than that, I have nothing to do."

"I have a fight tonight at 4:30, but other than that, I have nothing to do."

Cloud smiled slightly. He was good at throwing people's words back at them, when he even decided to answer them. When Kylie did it with him, it was downright cute. Any other guy, and Cloud got insanely jealous. When she was very angry, throwing a person's words back at them hurt almost at much as a punch to the face. And those hurt, as Cloud knew, from times when they were training together.


	14. 13 Coming Together

Battle of the Mages

Come Together

"So, you were looking for me," Sora checked, pointing a finger straight at his nose. He no longer wore gloves, as he found they held no importance to him as they did to Tai. Her hands, so white with scars, reflected the endless amount of pain of a mysterious and unknown past. To Sora, it seemed the longer she stared at her hands, the more fear she showed in her eyes. Just like he gave her his promise, he gave her the only pair of gloves he owned, to hide the scars from creeping eyes.

"Uh huh," answered the goof. Leon and Yuffie were there now, too, now that the giant blocks of ice had melted. Yuffie had been sitting next to Tai, checking everything but her spelling and math skills. Her hand looked for a fever, a pulse, and any spots in her throat; much like an over curious doctor who needed to know if anything was wrong. Yuffie didn't have a flashlight to shine in the kid's eyes, but she forced the lids open wide enough for light to get in and dilate her pupils if she wasn't on any drugs. Aside from electric burns and a fever, she was perfectly fine.

"Well, not you exactly," Leon said. He crossed his arms, staring down at Sora, not menacingly, but it was hard not to stare someone down if they were so much shorter. "They were looking for the Wielder of the Keyblade. Anyone would have done, as long as they bore a Keyblade."

"And we found **you**!" the duck quacked. "And now that we've found you -"

"We can go to other worlds to destroy the Darkness!" the goof cut in, right next to the duck's face. The duck pushed his head away, looking at Sora rather expectantly while he waited kindly for an answer. Sora shoved his hands in his pockets, staring up into the starry sky. There was a long drawn out silence while the duck and the goof waited. When Sora finally brought his gaze down their level, he turned around instead to look at Tai.

"I wonder if we can find Kairi, Riku, and Kylie."

"You can!"

"Really!" Sora spun to stare at this duck character, a bit with disbelief and a lot of hope. There was almost a smile on his lips, and yet it wasn't allowed to grow. Halfway through the process, the smile turned upside down and Sora hung his head. "But...what if we don't find them?"

_Will you?_

"You will," said Tai unexpectedly. She looked up, with the baby, childish eyes that an eleven-year-old should have. Yuffie looked up as well, shaking what should be a bottle of elixir for Tai's fever and her burns. On wobbly legs, Tai stood, facing Sora with her hands at her sides. Even when she looked so childish, her eyes were always still so distant. With no memories of her own, her mind should be more than just a blank. "If you believe, you can do anything, right?"

"Right!" Sora agreed. At her, he smiled, knowing that even with a consciously blank mind, there was at least _something_ working at a subconscious level at the back of her mind. It was just there she didn't look, but it always came out of her mouth. "You ready to go then?"

"She's coming?" the duck asked, frowning. Sora looked at him and nodded, reaching out to Tai who didn't refuse to go to him, she just didn't because she was focused more on what Yuffie was giving her for her fever and burns.

"There's no way I'm leaving without her. She's just a kid anyway."

"But -"

"Donald!" Leon started. Donald, the duck, was shocked into attention, with his back straight and his arms tightly at his sides. Leon brushed his fingers through his hair first, then calmly defending the boy, said, "Let her go with you. She's a good fighter, even for a kid. She'd be a good help."

"Awright..." muttered Donald reluctantly. But he wouldn't stay reluctant for long. The goof stepped forward, holding out his hand out in front of Sora, smiling such a goofy smile that made Sora almost laugh.

"Now that everything's settled, I'm Goofy!" he introduced, finally after minutes of waiting.

"Donald!" Donald chirped, slapping his hand down right on top of Goofy's.

"And that one's Sora, and That one's -"

"Tai."

"Oh, you know her?"

"Asukki..." Riku turned away his gaze to face the golden haired girl right next to him; the girl who found him when he woke up in some strange world. That was her, and the very same girl who kept harassing Sora and Tai just chapters before, and now they both were sitting on a roof. She always had a dancing smile on her lips, and bright, devilish minty eyes that just overflowed mischief. But, even though she was clearly impish, her outfit would suggest she was colorblind. Nothing she wore matched in color, but all the colors were specifically solid, and each color represented one of every element anyway. Maybe she did match?

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, you silly boy, you," she giggled as quickly as she always had, "For three years you lived with her, you did, I know, I know," she finished, then Asukki cooed, leaning back on her hands and letting her now-braided golden hair fall behind her shoulders. Her minty eyes tilted up to the sky, she let the world be quiet for just a little while longer, until it was just about time to be mysterious. "So, five of the Mages had come together, but only four of them are going on a journey. This is depressing."

"Why?" Riku asked. He didn't know her very well. Like before, he had only just met her not too long ago. After the islands were destroyed, he woke up on a new and strange world. The first face that met him was Asukki's, grinning as playfully as if she were playing a childish game. She knew about the Mages, and why? She was one herself; something Riku found out the hard way. Once he walked in on her in the bathroom, and she had such a strong reaction, Riku was left unconscious for the rest of the day. Actually, he's still not sure what happened that day.

"Because, because, it'll just take that much longer to get the little dears all together, now wouldn't it?" she answered. Riku dropped his head forward, letting his hair fall over his crossed legs. This he knew. If all the mages were to be together, it would just be easier if they found each other and stuck together.

"What are you planning anyway?" he wondered, looking up at the minty-eyed girl. A finger found its way to her lips, a hum vibrating the discolored nail. Her nails were colored, too, yes, in the same colors that mismatched her clothes. There were eight colors and ten fingers, and those unfortunate to have a color were left uncolored. One was a pinky finger; the other was the opposite hand's index finger.

Asukki stood up without answering the question. It was something she would or could not answer. Knowing Asukki, it would be something she **would** not - as opposed to **could** not - answer. She had her mysterious ways, just as everyone else did.

"Let's go home," she told him, raising a hand in front of her.

"I have another question, though."

"Can you ask it at home?"

"Wouldn't it be easier to answer it here, and explain there?"

_Wouldn't it?_

"Awright, what is it?"

"Those two, Donald and Goofy, they're Mages, I understand...but what's their elements?"

Asukki looked at him, removing her hand from the air in front of her so she could turn to face Riku. She didn't want to stand and answer him, so crouching without need, she slid onto her stomach and peeked over the building.

"The four primary elements a girls," began her roundabout answer. "That includes wind, fire, water, and earth. As both of them are male, and there are only two elements left besides light and darkness, what do you think their elements are?"

"I know what they are," Riku spat, standing this time. It was his turn to hold out his hand into the air. Maybe he was ready to go to, maybe he just wanted to go before Asukki. "I just wanted to know which element which had specifically, is that so hard?"

"No need to be fussy," grouched a put-off Asukki. She stood once more, pushing herself off the top of the roof and hopping to her feet. She held her hand out next to Riku, ready to help if he needed help. He was still new to his magic after all, he could need help. "Donald's starting element was ice, but he is the wisest out of all the mages, but also the shortest-tempered. His magic also includes fire, lightning, wind, and earth respectively, but he hasn't learned everything yet."

Only half-listening, Riku snapped black-gloved fingers. Instantaneously, a swirl of black, purple, and electric-blue formed and grew to a man-sized hole between time and space. The only way to get from one place to the next without wasting time was to create a tear between time and space, resulting in what they called a Dark Portal. It was part of Riku's magic. Asukki grinned, her minty eyes flashing with pleasure. The boy did know how to control his element the way he should.

"Riku, the Mage of Darkness," she breathed. "Before you, I dare not go. Please lead me, lest I be lost?" Riku rolled his eyes, but indeed allowed this game to be played. Taking her hand, he led her, as she requested, through the darkness of the portal, not releasing her hand before they had arrived at their destination: the other world.

_I don't understand why she calls this place home. She hates it as much as I do._

So dreary and blue-grey, this world had no color to it except for the castle. That castle was the one place that stood on the world. Its color was gold and brown against the blue-grey the rest of the world had to offer. Nobody actually lived here; nobody that was _alive_ lived here. Just the only person who owned the castle, and Asukki, and now Riku was there, too.

_What's so great about it here?_

"Riku, Riku, let go of my hand, can you, now," babbled a mixed up Asukki. Riku gasped, quickly removing his hand from her as she had requested, or not. She was smiling, just as she always did, and took his hand back, stalking up to the long, double doors that led to the inside of the castle.

The Entrance Hall was empty, but Asukki could tell already that people had been here. Who, she knew quite well, but abhorred their visits. The floor was dirtied with the filth of their feet, shoes, or whatever it was they walked on. Drawing her breath, Asukki shut her eyes tightly to keep from screaming out loud into the air.

"Riku!" she pronounced, falsely cheerfully, "The guests have arrived for din-din, yes they have. I have to mop here, I do, so please, please, set up the kitchen, will you, please?" she asked. Riku watched as she cranked her head forcefully to look at him. As much as she hated to ask for his assistance, she loved it. They were both here for the same reason - a reason which Riku still had yet to understand - and the only one doing any work around the castle was still only Asukki. There had to be a break somewhere, she wasn't a scullery maid, but the owner of the castle preferred Riku.

"Be quick, okay?" he told her, before disappearing, in quite a different way than the first. Inching toward a dark shadow, he slipped out of sight, and disappeared completely. Asukki, mildly put-out by her job, stalked to a hidden broom closet, removing what happened to be a mop, and proceeded to clean the mess the owner's guests had made by simply walking in; a job she was expected to do every day as soon as she came back.

"Dakara yakkai na..."

_So messy..._

"Yuffie, is Tai ready to go _yet_?" complained an over eager Sora. Yuffie was still taking check-ups on Tai to make sure she was in tip-top shape. Why, Sora had no idea. But Tai was little, and prone to fevers. She got them at least once a week, but only because she kept abusing her magic, and yet no one stopped her.

"Just a _minute_!" Yuffie huffed, checking Tai's temperature just one more time. "Well, you seem okay, do you feel okay?" Tai nodded her head in response. "Good, take these just incase, hold out your hands," Tai did as she was told and held out her hands. One, two, three, four elixirs Yuffie dropped in Tai's hands, a precautionary measure made by Dr Kisaragi. "If ever you run low on magic, or you're hurt, feel free to use those, their effects are great, so don't overuse or waste them. And Sora..." she turned to the girl's keeper, the boy who bore the Keyblade. "...please refrain from giving her any potions; she's allergic to them, okay?"

"What? How do you know?" Sora threw back. Yuffie rolled her eyes, shaking and upside down potion bottle that was so obviously empty from Sora's stand point.

"I just tried one and she started sneezing uncontrollably," she clarified. "If you must heal any wounds, use an elixir, but only if it's serious, okay? Other than that, don't bother if it's only minor."

"But -"

"She's not a baby, Sora," muttered an oft-silent, but rather forceful Leon. Yuffie nodded, and continued from where she left off, herself.

"Scratches, cuts, and gashes are considered minors, just wrap them up and keep them from bleeding. Broken bones, holes, loss of limb, use an elixir right away. Other than that, ethers are fine for simple fevers, since - I'm sure you know - Mages get fevers when they're low on magic. Ether's are made especially for magic use. Go on, now," Yuffie allowed, pushing the young Water Mage to her keeper. "Go find your friends, and show those Heartless who's boss!"

"You're not coming with us?" asked Sora. He took Tai back, placing her right beside him where she stayed loyally. Yuffie shook her head frantically, gulping once or twice. She looked to Leon, hoping for him to answer for her, instead of she herself, or maybe hoping he wouldn't say a thing at all. But he did anyway, leaving her glaring with disgust at her partner.

"She's scared of flying."

"A Wind Mage scared of flight?"

"Hey, I get airsick, okay!" Yuffie complained. "It's not very pretty."

"Oh, well, then," Sora sighed. He grinned, flicking his bare thumb upright and clear for both Yuffie and Leon to see it. "We're off, we'll come back often to visit, and maybe restock if we need to."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tai all left. Leon and Yuffie found themselves waving after their new hope, trusting the lives of many and their worlds to four misfits who all had their troubles. Sora, who was new to serious fighting, Donald who had a temper fit, Goofy who wasn't too bright, and Tai who had no memory. None of them had a clue what they were getting themselves into.

_Just call my name, and I'll be there for you, okay?_


	15. 14 Cookies and Kisses

Battle of the Mages  
Cookies and Kisses

"So, what shall we do today?" asked Kylie.

Cloud shrugged. "I don't know."

Before Kylie could answer, Hades, the God of Death and Ruler of the Underworld, swept into the room.

"Somebody write this down!" he practically yelled. "Tomorrow night, there's going to be a dance here!" He twirled around, as if dancing, then swept out. Whispers spread around the now crowded kitchen.

"A dance!"

"Exciting!"

"Oh, I have nothing to wear!"

Kylie raised an eyebrow slightly at the men and women excitedly chattering around them. Cloud snuck a glance her way. She looked totally disinterested. He had almost been hoping that she'd want to go, and that he could offer to take her. He wanted to see her in a dress, but he knew that he probably wouldn't ever. Kylie wasn't a skirt person, and she couldn't fight well in a skirt, which was one of the reasons why she didn't wear them.

"So, anyway, continuing on, what do you want to do?"

Cloud's almost formed hopes plummeted. She didn't want to go. "Once again, I don't know," Kylie leaned back even farther, tilting her chair back on two legs. She closed her eyes, and thought about what to do.

"I feel like..." Cloud leaned forward slightly, hoping this statement would have a profound effect on how exciting their day was going to be. "I feel like cooking."

Cloud returned to his original position.

"Cooking?"

"Yes cooking. It's when you put ingredients together and usually stick it in the oven, and the completed product is something edible and delicious."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I know what it means to cook. You just never struck me as the cooking type."

Kylie cocked her head to one side. "Why?"

Cloud blushed slightly. "I don't know. You just never seemed like the type to enjoy cooking." Kylie grinned.

"Well, I do. And today, I think that I will cook something." Her chair hit all four of its legs with a thump. "And you, my friend, are going to help me." Kylie stood, chair sliding back.

Cloud was thinking as he stood too. She'd called him her friend. The ultimate rejection. Although, it could have just been a phrase she'd been using. Also, the things she'd told him last night...you didn't tell those things to '_just a friend_'. Your best friend, maybe. Cloud could live with that status...for now.

Then he realized something. She had told him about her best friend, Tai, several times. Kylie talked about her a lot. He remembered thinking that he did once know a girl named Tai, but they never really talked about it. Then Cloud thought of something. Girls often had several best friends, one of which was usually a guy. So, Kylie **could** consider Cloud her best friend.

That revelation, which took only a few seconds, left Cloud feeling tired. He groaned and sunk back down, dropping his head into his hands.

Kylie was by him in an instant.

"Are you okay?"

Cloud nodded. "I'm fine. Just...just tired, all of a sudden."

"Stay sitting." She moved away, and when she came back, she brought him a cup of water. While they had been talking, the room had emptied out, until only the two remained.

"Drink this." He did so, and he immediately felt better, although he still had a slight headache.

"You know," said Kylie, standing back, hands on her hips, "The reason you're feeling sick is probably because you don't ever eat anything."

Cloud looked up at Kylie, surprised. "I do too eat."

Kylie rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "Not enough. A full grown man like you, to keep your muscles, and to keep your weight normal, needs to eat more than you're eating."

"What are you talking about?" asked Cloud. He had been lost in her confusing sentence about why he needed to eat more.

"I'm talking about the type of food that you eat. For breakfast this morning, you had rice. That's it. Nothing else. Half the time you skip lunch, and you hardly eat anything for dinner. I'm surprised that you're not dead yet!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow, then sighed in defeat. "Fine, you win. I'll start eating more."

"Good. You start now." Kylie walked over to a drawer, and took an apron out of it. Tying it on, Cloud had a sudden vision of her cooking in a kitchen, as his wife. He shook his head. Like **that** would ever happen.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making you breakfast."

"I already ate."

"Cloud." Kylie turned to him, holding a spatula. She'd just washed her hands. "Did you already forget about our little conversation? I said that you start now."

Cloud threw up his hands. "Fine. Do whatever you want." Kylie smirked.

"Good. I will." Cloud couldn't help but smile. Whenever he was with her, he just wanted to smile. But, of course, he couldn't tell her that. That would mean that things would be awkward between them again. And to Cloud, keeping her friendship was more important than letting his true feelings be now. At least for the time being.

Kylie smiled brightly. She got out a skillet, turned on the stove, and began to cook. Cloud just watched her. She was making a Japanese omelet, with rice, egg, and bits of bacon. When she was done, she put it on a plate, grabbed a fork, and set it in front of him.

"Eat."

Cloud ate. All of it. Very quickly. It was very good. When he was done, he looked up at Kylie. She had several cookbooks in front of her, and was flipping through the one in her hands. Kylie glanced up before returning her gaze to the book.

"Done?"

"Yes."

"Good. Go get an apron on and wash your hands."

Cloud looked at her in disbelief. "I am **not** wearing an apron."

Kylie looked up and held his gaze. "Au contraire, my friend. You will wear an apron. Actually," and here Kylie tapped her chin. "Go change first." Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Why should I change?"

"Because the clothes that you're wearing are not suitable for cooking in the kitchen." Cloud was wearing his long black coat and black pants, and both his sleeves were intact.

Cloud threw up his hands in disgust yet again. "Fine. I'll go change."

"Good. While you're over in that vicinity, grab my CD player and my CDs out of my room, okay?" Cloud nodded, and left. He changed, and grabbed the things she'd ask him to.

When he came back, he was wearing black jeans, faded till they were almost white at the knees and ends, and ripped at the knees and ends. His shirt was a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. When he entered the kitchen, he put the things on the table and spun around.

"There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic.

She had taken off the black hoodie she'd been wearing. She just had on a gray t-shirt, and Cloud could see the silver bracelet, on her left wrist. He was happy that she was wearing it. Kylie tossed him an apron. It was dark blue, a darker blue than his shirt.

"Ready?" Cloud nodded.

"You have to roll up your sleeves."

Cloud looked down at his left arm, and shook his head. Realization came into Kylie's eyes.

"Oh, I forgot. I'm sorry, I'm really oblivious sometimes. Here, sit, and I'll fix it for you." Cloud sat in one of the chairs. Kylie pulled another one up, and pushed his sleeve up, until all of the Geostigma infected skin showed.

"Okay, ready? This will probably hurt a lot." Cloud nodded. He was used to pain, both physical and mental.

"Okay, here I go." Kylie closed her eyes, and, placing her hands on his arm, began to burn the infection out. Cloud clenched his jaw, and shut his eyes tightly. It hurt badly. When she was almost done, he managed to open his eyes. Both of them were glowing with a red light, the light of a fire mage. The rubies on her bracelet were also glowing, with what seemed like an internal fire. And then, she was done, and the glow faded. Kylie opened her eyes.

"There. All done." Cloud looked down at his arm. The Geostigma was gone. He looked up at her, and smiled. It was his true smile. Kylie had only seen it once or twice. She smiled back at him.

"Thank you."

Kylie stood. "Of course." Cloud did too, rolling up his other sleeve.

"Hey, Kylie?"

"Yeah?" She was reading a recipe.

"When you were healing me, the rubies in your bracelet were glowing. Why?"

Kylie hit her forehead with her hand. "I should've explained that to you." Then she looked thoughtful. "Although, considering, it never came up, so I guess I can't really be blamed for not having explained it to you. Each Mage has a special jewel, or gem or whatever that magnifies their powers. Fire is rubies, water is sapphires, air is diamonds, earth is emeralds, and chaos is obsidian. Also, metals from the earth magnify our power, although there is no specific one that does it more than a different one. I just prefer silver."

"Would, say, a sapphire magnify your power?"

"A little bit. Not as much as a ruby, but a little bit." Kylie smiled, holding up her bracelet. "So, you just gave me a little power booster. And let me tell you, this boosts my power a lot." Cloud smiled again.

"Good. I'm glad it could help." Kylie laughed.

"But of course."

The two stood, and Kylie began to get ingredients out, Cloud leaning against the counter. When all the ingredients were out, she and Cloud began to make chocolate chip cookies, the music playing.

Several people looked into the kitchen during the time it took them to make the cookies. They were shocked to see Cloud smiling and laughing, hands covered in flour and dough.

When the cookies were in the oven, Kylie and Cloud looked at the oven. There weren't that many cookies, since the two had eaten a ton of the dough.

"You know, I really don't feel like eating any of those now," said Kylie thoughtfully.

"Me either. I feel sick."

Kylie grinned. "Me too. But you know, the raw dough is way better than the cooked cookie."

Cloud smiled too. "True, true. What about salmonella poisoning?"

Kylie grinned, gathering the dishes and putting them into the sink to wash. "The salmonella is on the eggshells, not the actual raw egg. Neither of us will get sick. And, I've been eating raw cookie dough my whole life, so I'm practically immune to it!" Cloud laughed, putting the ingredients away.

"Kye, where does this go?" asked Cloud, holding the closed bag of chocolate chips. Kylie froze, turning slowly from the sink.

"...You just called me Kye."

Cloud froze. "I'm sorry. Is...is that bad?"

Kylie's face had a guarded expression, and then it softened. She shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's just...Tai's the only one who calls me that."

Cloud bowed slightly. "My apologies. I won't call you that again."

"Oh, no!" Kylie, hands positioned so that the palms were facing Cloud, and the fingers were pointing upwards. She shook them back and forth. "It's...it's fine. It's fine. Um...go ahead."

Cloud smiled again. "Okay."

"And, um, they go in the cupboard over to the left of the fridge." Cloud nodded, and put them in the cupboard, on the top shelf. When he turned around, Kylie was glaring playfully at him.

"What?"

"You put that on the top shelf just to make fun of my shortness, didn't you?"

Cloud looked confused for a moment, then he grinned. He'd been smiling a lot that day.

"You caught on to my plan quickly. Although truthfully," and here Cloud's grin widened. "You are pretty short." Kylie looked highly offended and turned back to the sink, beginning to scrub the dishes. Cloud moved forward, until he was right behind her, looking over her shoulder. Kylie would call it hovering.

"Are you angry?" he asked quietly. Kylie didn't answer. Cloud hadn't realized how sensitive she was about her height.

"Don't be angry. Short is cute." Kylie blushed and looked up at him, who was leaning over her left shoulder.

"Short is...cute?"

Cloud nodded, and leaned closer. "Short is so very, very cute."

Closer, and closer, both of their eyes closed slowly, and their lips met in their first real kiss. Very light, just brushing. A few seconds later they parted.

"So very cute," Cloud whispered, face just a few inches away from her own.

And, of course, as is typical in stories, somebody walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

"Am I interrupting?" The two jumped apart. Kylie spun while jumping, lost her balance, and fell back into the sink. Soapy water splashed over the edge of the sink in a wave onto the floor. Her arms were covered up to her forearms in water, and the back of her shirt was soaked. Trying to recover her balance, she slipped on the wet floor, and fell onto the ground. Instinctively, she grabbed Cloud, who was standing quite close, to try and catch herself. Cloud slipped also, as so much water had fallen out of the large sink that it had washed over Cloud's black vans. The two fell into a wet pile onto the ground.

The girl in doorway was Jessica. She was glaring at the two adults. Jessica, blonde, blue eyed, preppy Jessica, had a crush on Cloud. Blonde, blue eyed, non-preppy, emo Cloud, did not like her. He tolerated her. Just barely. Whenever she tried to strike up a conversation, he left. And yet, even though he was a total jerk to her, she still liked him. In fact, Cloud was a total jerk to pretty much everybody except for Kylie.

"No, you're not interrupting anything," said Kylie lightly, coldly. Like the first chilly wind of winter.

"Are you sure? I could have sworn the two of you were locked at the mouth." Kylie's eyes narrowed, and she stood, extending a hand to Cloud. He took it, and she pulled him up.

"Oh, no, we weren't locked at the mouth. We will be though." And with that, Kylie faced Cloud, wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck, pulled him down, and kissed him. His arms circled around her back. This one wasn't like their last one. This kiss was more forceful. Cloud's mind was in shock. What he had wanted to do, and she had initiated it. He was free from guilt.

When they broke their kiss, Kylie, still in Cloud's arms with his wrapped around her, turned her head and looked Jessica square in the eye. Jessica, anger clear on her face, turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen. Kylie smirked before looking back at Cloud.

"You won't make any friends that way," he said.

"I don't want to make friends with people like her. Don't like it, you can leave."

"No, I don't think I will." And then, Kylie's mind began to work.

"Cloud, I'm so sorry!" Her arms, which had still been around his neck, unwrapped, and her hands covered her mouth. They lowered, and she moved away slightly. Cloud however, kept his arms wrapped firmly around her back. "I don't know why...to make her mad...but I still really wanted to..." Kylie broke off, and shook her head back and forth. "I'm sorry. I don't have my thoughts in order."

"Good." Before Kylie even had a chance to look surprised, Cloud unwrapped one of his hands from her back, and, leaving the other one there, cupped her head in his hand, and drew her closer, pressing his lips against hers forcefully once more. When they parted, they stayed close.

"Thinking would ruin the moment."

Kylie smiled, and Cloud smiled back, and then they kissed again. They were doing this when another person entered the kitchen.


	16. 15 Tai in Wonderland

Battle of the Mages

Tai in Wonderland

"Tai, are you gonna be sleeping in that tree all day?" Sora wondered. Tai simply nodded, tilting her head down, then up without so much as opening an eye. Sora huffed, crossing his arms over his red-dressed chest. "Aren't we supposed to be training, anyway?"

"Possibly."

"Then why don't you get down here?"

"I don't suck."

"Tai!" he moaned so loudly, but not only was the younger child no longer listening, but she had finally fallen asleep as well. The brunette boy huffed again, turning away from the tree Tai slept in now, and went on mumbling to himself, saying, "Don't go complaining to me if you fall out of that stupid tree..."

_How long are you going to remain asleep?_

"Hm?"

_Are you going to be asleep for long?_

"Not terribly so."

_Can you wake up now?_

"Perhaps."

Offering what the voice had requested, Tai had awoken from her slumber in the tree. Her mouth opened and her tongue stuck out like a cat as she yawned so noisily. Looking around, she wondered how long it was since she fell asleep. The sky had already darkened after the setting sun, and the birds had gone to sleep. The white daisies were closing up for the night, but still barely open to catch that last glimpse of sunlight. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were nowhere in sight, likely off to find some sort of snack to keep their ravaging stomachs at bay. Tai was left in the tree, alone with her long, light-brown hair nearly reaching to the green grassy ground.

"Oh my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" screamed a quite oddly dressed white rabbit. Tai, still from the tree, tilted her head casually as she watched the thing run by on two large feet, sporting a golden watch which he had so close to him. "I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!" Tilting her head more and more as the rabbit continued on and on, Tai found she couldn't turn her head any more the longer she stayed in the tree. Reaching out to the ground, she strategically fell, so that when she rolled, she landed on her hands and feet and ran after the tardy rabbit. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

Often stumbling over her long brunette hair, Tai followed the rabbit, having to run to catch up with it. The rabbit was unusually quick for a rabbit in a waistcoat and a giant golden watch. And still he ran, even jumping around to catch Tai in his sights. "No time to say, hello - Goodbye!" he screamed, rushing off again. Tai stopped her chase, tilting her head to the other side. Why her feet carried her so, she couldn't quite tell why. Why she didn't stop to think of why she followed the rabbit, she decided not to care. But as the rabbit was bounding away quicker than she, she stopped her heady tilt and carried on the chase.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I'm overdue! I'm really in a stew! No time to say goodbye - Hello! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" the rabbit kept on screaming, even as he dove into a hole beneath the trunk of a tree. Tai stumbled to a stop, nearly smacking into the tree herself, but not. Staring at the hole in which the rabbit so disappeared to, she thought nothing.

"I didn't even say anything," said she to the rabbit who was no longer there. But as her absent curiosity still worked its play, she dropped to her knees, excessive long hair dragging through the dirt in the ground - though she didn't really care - she squeezed her small body into the almost-smaller hole. So many roots dipped inside, knocking her unexpectedly on the head. She couldn't be expected to stay on her hands and knees for very long, and dropped instead to her elbows and knees. Her hair was still in the way, and often she stopped moving because either a knee caught her hair or her elbow did. And -oh, before she knew it, she was falling head over heels in a dark abyss of blackness.

_This old man_

_He played three_

_He played knick-knack on my knee_

_With a knick-knack, paddy whack_

_Give a dog a bone_

_This old man came rolling home _

On the way down, things that appeared right-side-up were upside-down and upside-down was right-side-up. Left was right and right was left...Tai confused herself looking one way while trying to look the other. The deeper she sank, the more confusing it got. Everything but her was floating, or everything was falling up while she stayed floating. The descent was slow, admittedly, but the end had to be near. The longer and longer it took to fall down this hole, the closer and closer the checkered-tiled floor came.

What color was the room when Tai touched the floor? She didn't know; it wasn't she who was looking around. She quite gave up the first few times turning her head one way only to look another. The room could have been any color. It could have been yellow, blue, green, debouche - whatever debouche was - it could have been cherry-granite-pumpernickel. Whatever color it was, it was a different in the hallway, and even different in the door. Of course, the door would have to be a different color in order for someone to tell that it actually was a door, but that didn't mean the walls had to be every different color imaginable.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" screamed the ever-tardy rabbit once more, yet one would think that the whole world had already heard once already, they didn't need to hear him _again_, unless he really was attempting to deafen the world of their hearing. If that was the case, he wasn't yelling loud enough. A little more volume please? Tai couldn't be deafened on the other side of the door. Take one door away, there were two. Take another, three. Take another, four, five, six. Six doors? Maybe it was seven. No, it was definitely five doors in all. Tai lost count after one, and after the final, smallest door had been opened, she crawled right through, tripping again over her long, light-brown hair. Stupid hair.

And still there was another door; _another_ door the rabbit had flown through on account of being so _dreadfully_ late to something that wasn't even mentioned yet. There should be a speed limit for little white, flying bunnies, but then that would probably stress the poor waistcoat-wearing rabbit more than it should. Tai dropped to her knees in front of this door as well, reaching out to grab the knob and turn, but quickly she pulled her hand back, not of fright, but of surprise; the golden doorknob _yelped_!

"Well, color me gold, it's a girl!" exclaimed the doorknob with some surprise. Tai blinked in response, crossing her arms as she had seen Sora done so many times.

"You are gold," she said seriously, as she always was. The doorknob shook its knobby nose in response, only because he was gold, and because he was using an expression incorrectly on purpose.

_Isn't it weird that a doorknob talks?_

"Not terribly so."

"What was that?"

"A talking doorknob isn't all that strange."

"Isn't it?"

"Not terribly so."

_Buzz..._

"Oh, what's this I see? A fly caught in a trap with no way to get out?" wondered a mysterious, clowny voice. Tai looked up and turned her head, her mind not yet clicking when she saw a purple and pink striped cat dancing on its own head. Not upside down, the cat was right side up. The head was dismembered from the body, and the body was dancing on the head. And did Tai think anything of it? No, not at all, because as curious as she could be, she was quite boring when something out of the ordinary was in play.

"Not terribly," said she to the beheaded cat.

"So you're not a fly caught in a trap."

"I said I wasn't."

"Well, then, what are you?"

"I have no idea."

"Do you want to think about it first?"

"Not really."

The cat was struck with silence. The girl was equally silent, but only because she was born the silent one. "Don't speak unless spoken to", that was her way. If the cat wouldn't speak, neither would she. The white rabbit often spoke, though, its screams could be heard in the distance beyond the doorknob, still screaming, "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

"Why is it so silent?" asked the cat upon its own head.

"Because the silence makes it so," answered the girl not upon her own head. The cat was struck again so silent.

No longer were they in a room with different colored walls. On a table where the cat used to be sitting, on a branch the cat sat now. On a checker-tiled floor Tai no longer was, but instead on a dark green grassy path. Look around, she dared not, for fear of confusing herself once more by turning her head one way and looking the other way. Then again, perhaps if she wanted to look one way, she should simply turn her head the way she didn't want to look and then she would be looking in the way she wanted to look, but it just seems like too much information to process with one brain. She just stared at the cat.

"Well, then, what makes up 'up' and what makes down 'down'?" asked the cat, mostly in attempt to trump the tiny girl with the awfully long hair. Though it is quite bothersome, wondering how Tai got so tiny in the first place. One moment she was tall as she was, next moment she was no bigger than a standing flower petal. But even if she was so small, that just meant the tree was dreadfully tiny, too.

"Because up forgot up was down and down forgot down was up. So up fell down and down fell up so now up is down and down is up, which is a lie when you say up is up and down is down, when really up is 'down' and down is 'up'."

"Is that so?"

"I don't know."

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't want to know anything."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Then why am I here?"

"That depends on you."

Enough was enough when the riddler himself was trumped. Without a word, the pink and purple striped cat disappeared slowly into the darkness of the night, leaving not a trace that he was there at all. When there was no trace that the cat was there at all, the darkness brightened, a concentrated light shining from behind the tiny tree. This light Tai walk towards, and stopped right at a wall where the light had been found. The light was shaped - strangely shaped - with a heart shaped engraving on it.

_Presenting, the Queen of Hearts!_

Tai reached out to touch the shape, wondering what it was and wondering why it was with the wall if only it shined with light. When she touched, her hand faded through, pulling the rest of Tai along with it and to the other side of the wall. In a courtyard, full of sunshine and light. Guards of Cards were standing right along the wall, and right along the wall of a giant labyrinth of green shrubs, all in one courtyard. If there was a Queen, she certainly saw none.

"What are you doing here?"

"Shoo, shoo, shoo before she sees!"

"Yes, you don't want her to see!"

"She'll say -"

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" screamed a woman's voice from inside the labyrinth. Tai stood deathly still, ignoring the cards that spoke to her, and ignoring the words that were screamed so loudly that the cards shook and fell over. Grabbing at her ankles, shakingly so, the cards begged her not to go into the labyrinth, not to face the Queen, for it would be off with all there heads if she made the mistake of doing so.

But did she listen? Not even a little.

Her first step taken in the labyrinth was shaking the card guards off. The second step she took was actually entering the labyrinth. However, if it really were a labyrinth, the hedges would have made a maze, in which they did not. The third step she took was entering the courtyard, where a poor card guard was being dragged away by his fellow cards, and a pompous fat lady sitting quite proudly on a too-tiny thrown.

"Anyone else here to oppose the law?" asked the Queen. The courtyard was silent. Obviously no one was going to defy her. "And you there, who are you?" she asked, pointing her heart-tipped stick at Tai's thin frame. Tai stood her ground, dully, but standing still as she always would, and unafraid - not that she knew what to be afraid of. Everything was strange anyhow.

_Tai_.

"I am -"

"Yes, who are you?" asked someone from the audience - or the court, either one.

_Tai_.

"I am -"

"Please state your name," demanded another random kook.

_Tai?_

"I am -"

"I am asking for your name," resumed the Queen.

_Tai?_

"I am -"

"Are you refusing to tell me who you are?"

_Tai!_

"I am -"

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

_Tai!_

The card guards were at her in an instant, all of them refusing to stand still with the moody Queen present. Tai stood her ground, refusing to move when so many were after her. She was cocky, and she knew what she was doing. As they surrounded her, she did the only thing she absolutely knew how to do: Kick Butt.

Cards were not like people of flesh and blood. They were flat, and made of paper, or some kind of papery substance. They couldn't be hit with a stick and be expected to make a satisfying hit or sound. The only thing that could harm them would be any sharp object and some leverage. If Tai had giant scissors, she would use them. If Tai had wanted to use giant scissors, she would use them. If Tai had anything to use, she would use them.

_There was another thing that could stop paper in its tracks._

Tai knew something they didn't know!

Focusing deep within herself, Tai reached for that long burning flame deep within her soul. The cards came, yes. She kept them at bay by dancing between and around them; ducking, twirling, rolling, flipping...like an absent shadow that no one really noticed. Once she found her fire burning deep within her soul, her eyes opened wide. Colors of orange-yellow danced and clashed amongst the icy-blue her eyes normally were. Tracing a design in the air, her hands made few signs, and she let loose a blazing fire snake that burned and cut through the cards like they were nothing more than spider webs.

The Queen was less than satisfied, and yet she could do nothing without her army of cards, and even less with everyone else so afraid of the thin little demon with the glaring orange-yellow eyes. They felt a fear for their very souls, and when given the chance, left without so much as a peep.

_Tai, wake up!_

"What?"

_Wake up, it's time to go!_

"I'm asleep?"

_Get your tiny butt out of that tree and let's go!_

"Oww, hot!" Tai screamed, jumping two feet higher than the branch. She patted out a fire that had started at her hind quarters, glaring at the duck responsible for the now-black burn on her only pair of jeans. Donald glared back challengingly, putting up his feathery fists. Tai didn't have to put up her own fists to scare a tiny little duck. He was already a coward as it was. A deepening of a glare more fierce than his own, and the duck easily backed down, lowering his gaunts and whispering calming words to an angry Water Mage.

"I-I'm sorry, please forgive me," he quacked. Behind him, Sora and Goofy didn't do much to hide their laughter.

"Tai, it's time to go, are you ready?" Sora asked, holding out his hand to the girl still in the tree. She blinked at him, waiting seconds before her final response, and lowered her head slowly in a gentle nod.

"I'm ready," she answered him. Hopping from the tree, she took her spot beside him, and waited for him to take the lead before dutifully following after him. Now behind them, the duck named Donald grumbled angry words, not loud enough for any to hear, but loud enough for him to release his fumes.

"You shouldn't pick on girls," Goofy said to the short-tempered duck.

"Aww, what do you know, you big palooka?" Donald spat at him. Goofy said nothing as he watched Donald waddle away on his yellow-webbed feet. Looking around, he thought he saw a rabbit in a waistcoat with a watch, but shrugged it off as his imagination and followed the duck who followed the kids to what they knew to be their gummi ship.

_I'm late, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date! No time to say hello - Goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!_


	17. 16 Troubles in Paradise

Battle of the Mages  
Troubles in Paradise

"This is unacceptable!"

Kylie looked around the office they were in. The lecture they'd been enduring for the last seventeen-and-a-half minutes was very boring. Phil walked in on them in the kitchen, where they were kissing. He'd then hauled them off to his office where he then proceeded to deliver a long, boring lecture about why two of his fighters could not become romantically involved. Kylie's eyes roamed around the office again, and she shifted her weight, shoving her hands deep into her pockets. Cloud, ever the stoic warrior, stood ramrod straight, hands clasped behind his back, feet spread slightly apart, looking straight at the half man, half goat. His eyes slid to the side, and he saw the fire mage fidget again. She was obviously not listening.

"Also - Kylie, are you listening!"

Kylie jumped slightly, and looked at him. "No."

Cloud ducked his head as he smothered a laugh. He envied her bluntness.

"Well, you should be!"

Kylie yawned and stretched. "No, I really shouldn't be, and I'll tell you why. First of all: Cloud. All three of us here know that Cloud is the main attraction at this place. Without him, this place will die. Slowly, but surely." Phil nodded, grudgingly. He knew that she was right.

"But I can still get rid of you."

Kylie smiled and shook her head. "Au contraire. You cannot. Because, since when I came here, Cloud found me, that makes me his guest. And, permanent resident fighters are allowed guests."

"I can change that!"

"No you can't. Because if you do, Cloud will leave, and then this place will die, which brings us back to square one."

Phil gritted his teeth.

"Fine. But please keep it private. It could start a scandal, or make many of our audience go away if they knew that Cloud was taken."

Both Kylie and Cloud blushed.

"We're not even dating!" exclaimed Kylie. Phil smirked.

"It's only a matter of time."

Kylie, blush deepening, turned and left the office, slamming the door shut behind her. Cloud stayed where he was, looking at Phil.

"Hold onto her Cloud. She's good for you." Cloud's blush deepened. "Actually, she's the best thing that's ever happened to you." Cloud was now the reddest that Phil bet anybody had ever seen him.

"May I go now?" Smirking, Phil nodded. He knew that he was right. Cloud turned and walked out of the office, closing the door a little harder than he'd meant to. Kylie was waiting outside. Cloud, smiling slightly, walked with Kylie down the hall, neither talking. About halfway down the hall, Cloud paused. Kylie stopped too.

"Kylie..."

"Yes?" Kylie cocked her head to one side, in a motion that Cloud thought was unbearably cute.

"May I...may I hold your hand?" Kylie was startled for a moment, before she blushed, and, almost hesitantly, nodded. Cloud reached out his hand, and Kylie took it, her small hand enveloped in his large one. His hands were rough, as they were the hands of a warrior. Her smaller hands were soft, event though she was a warrior, because she, unlike Cloud, put lotion on daily. Cloud hadn't put lotion on since he was a kid, and his mom had made him.

"Cloud, your hands are really rough," remarked Kylie airily as they continued to walk back to the kitchen.

"So?"

"So, you should put lotion on them."

Cloud raised an eyebrow at her. He suddenly felt so carefree, as if all his worries about the awkwardness between them coming back had never happened. "I am not going to put lotion on my hands."

Kylie raised an eyebrow too. "And why not?"

Cloud didn't answer.

"All right, since you've suddenly become a mute, I'll answer for you. I'll bet that this is what you're thinking: 'Putting lotion on your hands is something that chicks would do. I can't do that. That would make me unmanly.' End Cloud's thought process."

Cloud raised his other eyebrow too. "I don't think you have quite the grasp on the male psyche that you think you do."

Kylie grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I have enough of a grasp of the male psyche to understand what you were thinking."

Cloud chuckled and shook his head. "You were wrong. That was very far from what I was thinking."

Kylie raised her eyebrows. "Yeah? Then what were you thinking, oh great swordsman?" Cloud smiled.

"I was thinking how darn cute you are." Kylie looked startled for a moment, then she blushed.

"You enjoy teasing me, don't you?" Cloud nodded.

"Yes I do. But it's true, whether I'm teasing you or not." Kylie's blush deepened as they entered the kitchen. Sarah was there, with several other people. Sarah was removing the last cookie sheet from the oven.

"Oh, thanks Sarah! I totally forgot those!" Sarah looked up, after closing and turning off the oven.

"Oh, what is this?" she raised an eyebrow amusedly. Cloud and Kylie blushed, immediately letting go of each other's hands.

"Um, oh, well -"

"Good for you. I'm taking some of these cookies, by the way."

Kylie nodded, unable to finish her sentence. Grinning, Sarah left, juggling five hot cookies between her hands. Kylie walked forward, and began to put the cookies on a cooling rack. Cloud walked forward, too, to help. However, Kylie didn't see him, turned, and knocked him over. Cloud, falling over, put his hand out, and it landed on the hot cookie sheet. He yelped and jumped away from the cookie sheet. Kylie, dropping her spatula, grabbed his wrist and thrust it under the sink, turning the water on full blast, turning the knob to make it cold.

Cloud was gritting his teeth. His hand was burned badly.

"I'm so sorry!" Kylie was saying, hands going numb under the cold stream of H2O. "You won't be able to fight now! I'm so sorry! It was all my fault! I didn't see you standing there!" Everybody in the kitchen was staring at them. Kylie and Cloud were wrapped around each other, because Kylie had been in such a hurry to get Cloud's hand under the water.

"It's...it's fine," he said through gritted teeth. It was at least a second-degree burn, because the oven had been very, very hot.

"No, it is **not** fine!" exclaimed Kylie, taking his hand out from the water. "You won't be able to fight, and you have a fight later today!" Cloud shrugged.

"I'll cancel it."

"No! Then they would say that you were afraid, and you'd be made a laughingstock!" Kylie paused, thinking for a few moments as she dried Cloud's hand and wrapped the towel around it. "I'll have to fight for you."

Cloud shook his head violently. "No. Absolutely not. Completely out of the question." Kylie looked into his eyes, and narrowed her own green orbs.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said."

Kylie and Cloud were trying to stare each other down. One of the people in the kitchen, a newcomer, shivered. There was no way he would ever be able to do that, and he had no idea how she could either.

Kylie, glaring, said, "And since when, Mr. Cloud Strife, have you **ever** been able to tell me what to do?"

Cloud glared right back. "Since now. You are not fighting my opponent."

"Why not? I am fighting my own opponent."

"Because mine is too powerful and dangerous."

Kylie let go of his hand and stepped back, putting her still wet hands on her hips. "Wait, you don't want me to fight because...you think your opponent is too strong?" Cloud nodded, knowing it sounded stupid. Kylie let out a hollow laugh.

"I didn't know that you thought I was so weak, Cloud."

"I don't -"

"So tell me, magic-less swordsman, have you forgotten what I am?" Kylie was angry. She was very, very angry. Cloud didn't think he'd ever seen her this angry. Cloud didn't answer. "Have you forgotten what I am?" she yelled, sparks jumping across her skin.

"How can I when you're this angry?" he said coolly. The iciness in his voice was enough to put out the fire that was threatening to break out. The sparks faded, and Kylie calmed down.

"Then why do you doubt me?" she asked quietly. His heart hurt, as he realized just how much he had hurt her, when he'd doubted her strength. But in reality, all he had wanted to do was protect her. His hand throbbed, and he winced. Kylie's eyes were immediately filled with concern.

"We need to get something on that hand," she said, grabbing his other wrist and pulling him out of the kitchen, and into her room. Cloud sat on her bed as she closed the door, hand throbbing painfully.

"I'll be right back." Cloud nodded, and Kylie left the room. When she left, Cloud let his eyes roam. It had been a while since he'd been in her room. When they hung out, it was usually in his room, since his room, and bed (which they sat on) were bigger.

When Kylie came back, she was holding a potted plant. It sort of looked like a cactus.

"What is that?" asked Cloud, wondering why she had left to get a plant.

"It's an aloe vera plant."

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Did you never put aloe on your burns before?"

Cloud remembered one time, when he had been ten, he had gotten a very bad sunburn. His mother had put a green goop on it, and it had felt better.

"That's aloe vera?" Kylie nodded. Cloud gingerly unwrapped his hand. The palm was red and blistered, and hurt horribly. Kylie summoned one of her short swords, and cut off the end of one of the little branches of the arms. Green goop oozed out. Kylie, using her fingers, scooped up the goop, and applied it to Cloud's hands. His jaw was clenched tight the whole time, and sweat had broken out on his face and his back.

When the goop was all over his palm, Kylie wrapped a bandage around his hand. Cloud looked at it. There was no way he could fight with his hand like that.

"I don't."

"What?" Kylie was confused. It seemed like Cloud had just answered one of the voices in his head.

"I don't doubt you."

"Oh." Kylie immediately felt guilty for the earlier conversation. She had overreacted and she knew it.

"Then why did you not me want to fight instead of you?" asked Kylie, anger rising again.

Cloud looked down. He couldn't look her in the eye when he told her this. "I...I wanted to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" she asked exasperatedly. "I don't need to be protected! I'm strong!"

"I know." Cloud couldn't look up. "But the knowledge that you don't need to protect the person you care about doesn't make the fear of losing that person lessen, does it?"

Kylie didn't answer, and Cloud looked up. Her eyes were troubled.

"Cloud...I don't think...I don't think I can do this ye -" Cloud felt his heart and stomach plummet.

He nodded. "Oh...okay."

"Cloud -"

"No, really, I understand. It's fine." He stood. "Thank you for bandaging my hand. I'll just cancel the fight, so you don't need to involve yourself anymore." As he had continued to talk, his voice had grown unintentionally bitter.

Kylie began to stand too. "Cloud -"

"Don't Kylie. And don't you dare give me that, 'We can still be friends' line. Because we can't. You know that as well as I do. So just stop." Cloud walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.

Kylie sat heavily on her bed, and put her head in her hands.


	18. 17 Mysterious

Battle of the Mages

Mysterious

No dust. No dirt. Cobwebs situated carefully in out-of-the-way corners. A different clean than most would expect. No sparkles. No shine. Clashes of stone and marble. Gloomy. Cold. Clean. Only one castle could have this type of look to it, and only one child could have the patience to keep it up. When she wasn't away, Asukki spent her time keeping everything that was naturally out of place in its place and making sure things in place were perfectly situated out of place. The owner of the castle liked it this way. The owner wouldn't have the castle so perfectly clean. There was a foreboding image to be kept.

"Asukki, why is your life so pathetic here at the castle," Riku asked from the bed. He laid belly flat, propped up by only his elbows, and he was reading a book. Asukki was done with her chores for the day, and wasted whatever she had left of her time in Riku's room, picking through things that weren't necessarily his to begin with. The room wasn't empty at all. There was a dresser, a closet, a chest, and a lamp, and other things to make a room roomy, but nothing of what would interest him naturally.

"Why do you still have this thing?" she ignored. She held up the wooden sword he used to have on the islands, paying more attention to that than his question. Now that he had a real sword, he didn't need one so pathetic anymore. She had it up to her eye level, then higher as she examined it from the bottom. Standing up, she held the sword in front of her, swinging it occasionally to get a feel for the strangely weighted item.

"I asked you a question first, so I expect you to answer it."

"Hey, just because you're the master's favorite, doesn't mean you're allowed to tell me what to do, too."

"This is why I'm wondering why he doesn't like you."

"Well..." Asukki hummed. She examined the worthless wooden sword for a little longer, and deciding it wasn't so important anymore, she threw it aside, plopping herself on the ground again, where she liked to sit cross-legged. "I am his servant. As long as I'm here, I have to do whatever he tells me."

"And if you don't?" Riku asked, looking away from the book to pay attention to Asukki. She wasn't looking at him, something she usually did when she went off in explanation. She twisted one of her golden locks around her finger while she searched the air for a reason to give Riku the answer. They still hardly knew each other. Riku didn't talk much about his friend, and he spoke down to her while they were at the castle, just because it pleased the owner. She had no reason to tell him.

_An embodiment of Death._

"Asukki!" bellowed a deep, gravelly voice from the door. Asukki turned her head up to look up at who would be the owner and the master of this castle. Dressed in complete black robes, his face was shrouded by the purple-trimmed hood, allowing no one to see his face. Asukki stood up instantly before the King of this castle, bowing only because she had no dress to curtsy in. "Have you finished your duties."

_The mystery of thousands._

"I have, Your Majesty," she answered the dark shroud. She kept her head down out of respect. It was considered rude if she were to look the master straight in the face as the servant she was.

"Cleaned the surfaces?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Made the dinner for the guests?"

"I have, Your Majesty. It's on the -"

_The fear of millions._

"I did not ask you where it was!" he bellowed again. Asukki shut her eyes tightly, silently shrinking back into the room without actually moving from her spot. "What are you doing here?"

"I -"

"I was making her clean my room," Riku said, returning to his book. Because he was the favorite of the master, he had the luxury of speaking indirectly and out of turn. The master took a step back with a hum of satisfaction.

"Very well, then," he decided, turning to leave. Outside the room, he stopped, but without turning, he spoke, his deep, gravely voice resonating against the walls and making the whole room shake with his power. "Later, I want the two of you in the Grand Hall. There's something I want to show you. Preferable as soon as Asukki finishes cleaning."

_The power to make those beneath him quake._

"Yes, Your Majesty," they agreed, watching carefully as the embodiment of shadow left the room. Asukki let out her breath finally. It was clear, even to Riku, that she was afraid of the master, but for whatever reason why, she never once said, and never once spoke about it to him.

"Thanks, Riku," she breathed. She returned to his wooden sword, picking it up and storing it where she had gotten it in the first place. She sat down again on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as she waited for her to "clean the room" without actually cleaning it. Perhaps when Riku finished his chapter, they could leave. The room was clean enough already.

_He was truly the only man to turn a Mage weak with fear._

"Let's go," Riku decided, finally putting his book down. Asukki looked up, widespread fear on her face.

"Do we have to?" she asked. Her lip trembled slightly, but not enough for Riku to notice. He only sighed, rolling off his bed and he stood in front of Asukki.

"You know we do. If we don't...he'll hurt you, right?"

Asukki licked her lips. There was a vast difference in character when she was away and when she was at the castle. Away she was a vibrant kid who spoke too fast, enjoyed laughter, and even pranked other people to make up for the time spent in the castle. At the castle, she was less active, always forced to do what she had to do whether or not she was told. Shrugging one shoulder, Riku held his hand out, just for her to take. Asukki didn't hesitate, like another would, and she took his hand gratefully and let him pull her to her feet.

Between the walls of the tallest tower was nothing but empty, grey space. It was dusty, and unused; the one place Asukki wasn't allowed to clean. It was to give the impression that this place wasn't used at all, but fresh foot prints always decorated the dusty, dusty ground. It was for naught but it was still empty.

One wall bore a long-unused hearth that was black with age. It was here Riku and Asukki stopped. All around them there was nothing, but in this hearth it held the gate to a room that would have never been found just by searching for it. This other room could only be reached by magical means from the hearth. Here Riku and Asukki stood, side-by-side, taking their time entering the room beyond: the Grand Hall.

"Well, here goes," decided Riku finally. He held up his hand to the blackened grey brick wall, concentrating his magic to form the green gate portal to the other side. With one quick, deep breath, Asukki was allowed to go through first, Riku following calmly after her.

The Grand Hall was a large room, but unexpectedly small. It only had enough room for the empty glass coffins along the walls, and the hidden stage way in the back. The room was decorated in black and red and gold and brass. It was clearly obvious that the Hall was the secret base of those working hard to plan _something_, anything would do. Most everything was shrouded in darkness, but the hidden stage was lighted with enough light for everyone to see. It was the hidden stage where Asukki and Riku made their way ever so carefully.

"Hey, we're here, King," called Riku when they were both through. Asukki hissed, grabbing Riku by the arm and shaking him back and forth so weakly violent.

"Don't use that tone with him!" she shushed him. Riku looked at her through two aquamarine eyes, and she stared back at him pleadingly through her own minty green eyes. "Please..." she begged, tightening her grip.

"Your Majesty, before we start, can I make one little request?" Riku started, staring the master straight. Their master, still shrouded in black, moved slightly, and then nodded his head, giving Riku his permission to make his request. "I'd like to have Asukki as _my_ servant, if you don't mind. I'll make sure she does her normal duties around the castle, I just want responsibility over her."

"Very well, then," granted the deep, gravelly voice. "Do as you please, but I must warn you. If she messes up, you'll be the one to suffer."

"I understand."

"Riku!" Asukki snapped. He turned his sharp gaze to her to silence her from any more outbursts. Her brows furrowed over her minty eyes, but she said nothing more.

"Now..." started the leader of this band of members. Everyone leaned in, listening intently to what the owner of the castle had to say, especially Riku and Asukki.

_The plan commences, and only we can carry it out._


	19. 18 Love is Argumentative

Battle of the Mages  
Love is Argumentative

She had liked him. Maybe she had even loved him. But she had ruined all of that. Their chances were now almost zero. But she hadn't meant it like that. He had cut her off before she could finish. She had meant to say that she couldn't do this yet. They were moving too fast, and she didn't know if she was ready for a serious relationship. Also, she wanted - no, needed - to find Tai before anything else happened. But Cloud had misunderstood. And it was mostly Kylie's part.

Cloud lay sprawled on his bed in his dark room, eyelids half closed. He felt disjointed. Thoughts swirled around his head, but he refused to focus on any of them but one.

That was it.

There was nothing else.

He had no chance with Kylie.

And that made him wonder what use he was then.

Cloud rolled over and reached under his mattress, pulling out his knife. He rolled back onto his back, raising his arms into the air.

Slowly, meticulously, he lowered the blade to his arm, finally adding scars to his previously unmarked arm.

Drops of blood fell onto his stomach from his outstretched arm, his unburned hand holding the knife. However, the cuts gave him no comfort this time. Cloud removed the blade from his skin after only a few cuts. He growled and threw the knife. It buried itself halfway to the hilt in his wooden door.

Somebody knocked on the door.

"What?"

"Your fights in an hour."

"Cancel it."

Phil, for he was the one who'd knocked, was outraged. "What! Why?"

"I burned my hand badly, and I can't hold my sword." Phil sighed.

"Fine." He then walked away.

Cloud continued to stare up at his ceiling, before finally closing his eyes and going to sleep.

About half an hour later, Cloud's door burst open. He sat bolt upright, tired and disoriented.

"Wha -"

"Okay, you know what, you're dumb! I wasn't even done with my sentence, and you just went off on your own and made conclusions that were wrong!" In the doorway to his dark room stood Kylie, glowing red. The rubies in her bracelet were also glowing with an eternal light as she walked to the middle of his room, in front of his bed, flipping on his light. The light around her faded entirely as the electric lights came on.

"What are you talking about?" he almost yelled. How had she gotten in so quickly? He hadn't heard her pick the lock, and that was usually pretty loud. Unless you were a professional, but little did he know, she _could_ transport from one place to the next.

"I am talking about us. What I was going to say earlier, was, I don't think I can do this **yet**, you twit! And you interrupted me before I got the last word out, and got the conclusion that I wasn't interested, which, as I said before, is wrong!"

Cloud was angry now as well. "Maybe if you didn't lead everybody around you on and then crush their hopes with a few words I would be more inclined to trust you!"

"Leading people on? This is not about that, although I will address it in a minute! This is about you interrupting! You shouldn't do that! You could, oh, I don't know, get the wrong idea!"

"The wrong idea? You said that you didn't like me!"

"I said nothing of the sort!"

"It's what you meant!"

"No it wasn't and you know it! Now back to leading people on! How and when have I **ever** done that? And why don't you trust me?"

Cloud gestured wildly at her. "You're doing it now!" Kylie stretched her arms out and looked down at herself. She was wearing a fitted t-shirt, jeans, and toe socks. "And trusting people is really hard for me, and I trusted you almost inexplicably, and I don't anymore, because of earlier!"

"How am I leading you on? What on earth are you smoking?"

"Just looking at you is hard! Kami, you're just so friggin perfect! And everyone knows it, and everyone wants you, and you can't see that!"

Kylie's hand went to her mouth. "You think I'm perfect…?" Then she outstretched her hand, palm facing Cloud and shook it, dismissing that idea for the moment. "Wait, that's not the issue at hand! I don't do anything to flirt with them, or, as you so eloquently put it, _lead them on_!"

"It's every single move you make! It's every word you say! You're just so tantalizingly delicious! When we were out do you have any idea how many guys were staring at your butt?"

Kylie raised an eyebrow, and said almost calmly, "Were you?"

Cloud blushed violently. "No, I wasn't! That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point? That I'm pretty?"

"Kami Kylie! You're gorgeous! You're a friggin goddess and the only one who doesn't see it is you!"

"Wait, so now we're talking about my self-esteem? I have plenty, thank you very much! We **were** talking about you interrupting and how many misunderstandings that can cause!"

Cloud shook his head; messy blonde spikes scattering even more. "I do not interrupt, usually! You just say things that any regular person would misunderstand, then say something at the end, but by that time their hopes are crushed and they don't care anymore! And anybody would have misunderstood that! And no, we were never talking about your self-esteem! You're the only one who doesn't see that you flaunt your beauty everywhere you go!"

Kylie looked highly offended. "I do not!"

"Yes you do, with all of your fitted clothes! Kami, every single piece of skin that you show is so horrible and hard, because I just want to touch it!"

"I never show any skin anyway! Only my arms and occasionally my legs! What about you, always flaunting your skin!"

Cloud was confused. "What skin?"

"Oh I don't know, for example, your chest! And your arms!' She pointed to his bare torso, since he almost never slept with a shirt on. "And you're always training with your shirt off! I see how all the other girls look at you!" Cloud shook his head again.

"It's not the same! I can protect myself against a few girls, and I don't have every guy ever born stripping me with their eyes and staring at my butt!"

"So, what, you want me to dress in baggy clothes and never leave my room?"

"No!" yelled Cloud. "I just want you to be mine!" The two adults stood, panting, glaring at each other. That had to be the most unorthodox love confession anyone had ever heard, ever.

Cloud strode forward, grabbed Kylie, and kissed her hard. She returned the kiss, attacking each other's lips. Kylie's hands wrapped around his head and neck, tangling themselves in his blonde spikes. Cloud had his arms wrapped tightly around her back.

A while later, they parted. Kylie stood back, and they stared at each other for a few seconds. Kylie's hand flashed out to slap him. He caught her wrist. Her other hand was about to hit him and he grabbed that wrist too. She tried to wrap her leg around his ankle to trip him, but he blocked it, and tripped her. They fell onto the ground, with Cloud lying on top. Kylie growled, and Cloud smirked.

"You can take care of yourself, huh?"

Kylie growled again and thrust her knee into his abdomen. He grunted in pain, and rolled off of her, their positions switching. She smirked down at him, even though he still held her wrists in an iron-like grip. "I can burn you into cinders in less than a second, but I don't want to kill you."

"How kind," he growled, wrapping one of his legs around both of hers. He flipped them over, so that he was on top again. Kylie struggled, but this time he was sitting on her legs so she couldn't kick him again.

"Let me up!"

"No! Do you have short-term memory loss or were you just not listening to our whole conversation?"

Kylie growled. "Let me up!"

"No!"

"The minute I yell for help, people will come running, and who do you think they'll believe? The strong stoic fighter, who they've only ever seen with the girl in question, or the poor, weak girl who is being sat on by the warrior?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "They execute people for that here. Do you really want me to swing?" Kylie winced.

"No. I just thought you'd b thrown out." Cloud shook his head.

"No. Usually, they can tell if the girl is lying. If they can't tell, or if the guy is guilty, they hang him."

Kylie winced again. "That's not what I had planned." Cloud got off of her, and grabbed her hand, pulling her to standing position. Her eyes flashed and she slapped him. This one he didn't try to dodge. He figured he deserved it. She turned on her heel and left, slamming the door behind her. It just bounced open again. Cloud strode angrily to his door. The doorknob had been melted off. Cloud felt his temper boil again as she slammed her door.

He wrenched his open and yelled, "Stop melting my doorknobs!" That was the third one she'd melted in a week. He slammed his door, holding it with his hand to keep it from opening again. She wrenched her door open.

"If you wouldn't be such a jerk and a loner and not lock it all the time, I wouldn't have to!" Slam.

Open. "You lock yours too!" Slam.

Open. "Only when I'm changing or want to be alone! Did you forget our fight already? Or maybe you have short-term memory loss! Do you want anyone to walk in while I'm changing? Or is that a right you want just for yourself?" Slam.

Open. "I am not a pervert, so stop trying to make me out to be one!" Slam.

Open. "You said that you just wanted me to be yours!" Slam.

Open. "Yes! I did! I really like you! I think I'm falling in love with you!" Slam.

Open. "Yeah, well, me too! I really like you too! Falling in love…Probably!" Slam. Open. "And after last night I feel a lot closer to you!" Slam.

Open. "Me too! We should date!" Slam.

Open. "I would like to do that!" Slam.

Open. "Me too! So, are we officially going out?" Slam.

Open. "I guess so!" Slam.

Open. "Good!" Slam.

Open. "Good!" Slam.

Open. "I'm happy!" Cloud yelled before slamming his door.

Open. "Me too!" Kylie screamed, slamming her door. Cloud didn't answer. He'd said everything he'd wanted to say, and he was now dating the girl he was falling in love with. He grinned and lay back down on his bed. His cheek stung where she had slapped him, his burned hand was aching, and his abdomen was throbbing in pain from the knee to it. But that didn't seem to matter anymore.

Kylie sat grinning like a maniac on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. She really liked Cloud. She was even falling in love with him. Her throat hurt from the screaming, her wrists ached where he had grabbed her, and her hand stung where she had slapped him. But she was in a state of euphoria, and she loved it. She was dating now, and she had a boyfriend, even if she'd gotten him in the most unethical, and weirdest, way ever.

Kylie's grin widened before she closed her eyes and laughed maniacally into her pillow. He thought she was gorgeous; a goddess. Kylie squeezed her eyes shut harder.

_He thinks I'm pretty!_


End file.
